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ALVMNVS BOOK FVND
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
List of Previous Works by the same Author
the river congo, from its mouth to bolobo
the kilimanjaro expedition
the life of a slave
the life of livingstone
> ^ Or T- 1 -
or
UNIV2 „ -JY
j€. f^ .-^wif*^^
AN ANGONl WARRIOR
British Central Africa
AN ATTEMPT TO GIVE SOME ACCOUNT OF A PORTION OF
THE TERRITORIES UNDER BRITISH INFLUENCE
NORTH OF THE ZAMBEZI
By
SIR HARRY H. JOHNSTON, K.C.B.
F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., F.R.S.G.S., Fellow of Anthropological Institute QJ^-C X
Royal Colonial Institute, etc.
H.M. Commissioner and Consul -General in British Central Africa
WITH SIX MAPS AND 220 ILLUSTRATIONS
reproduced from the author's drawings or from photographs
METHUEN & CO.
36, ESSEX street, strand
LONDON
1897
ir'St
1}
V^J
PLYMOUTH
WILLIAM BRBNDON AND SON
PRINTERS
'•'} :;
DEDICATION
WHATEVER MAY BE WORTHY OF PRAISE IN THIS BOOK
I DEDICATE TO MY COMRADES IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED
IN A MANFUL STRUGGLE —
Captain CECIL MAGUIRE, Dr. SORABJI BOYCE, JOHN KYDD
J. G. BAINBRIDGE
Lieut. S. ARGYLL GILLMORE, ALFRED PEILE
L. M. FOTHERINGHAM, JOHN BUCHANAN, G. HAMPDEN
CHARLES A. GRAY, H. BRIGHTON
GILBERT STEVENSON, J. G. KING, J. L. NICOLL
EDWARD ALSTON, and Lieut. -Colonel C. A. EDWARDS—
AND TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF THOSE
STILL LIVING AND WORKING
IN THE SERVICE OF QUEEN AND COMPANY
WHO HAVE WROUGHT WITH ME ^INCE 1 889 IN THE
BUILDING UP OF THIS CINDERELLA AMONG THE PROTECTORATES
PREFACE
NORTH of the Zambezi and in the South Central portion of the continent
of Africa, bounded on the north by Lake Tanganyika and the Congo
Free State, on the north-east by German East Africa, on the east, south-east
and west by Portuguese possessions, lies what is now termed British Central
Africa, Protectorate and Sphere of Influence. The Sphere of Influence is
much larger than the actual Protectorate, which is chiefly confined to the
districts bordering on Lake Nyasa and on the river Shire. The Sphere of
Influence is at present administered under the Charter of the British South
Africa Company ; the Protectorate has always been administered directly
under the Imperial Government from the time of its inception. Circumstances
were so ordered that I happened to be the chief agent in bringing all this
territory, directly or indirectly, under British Influence, both on behalf of the
Imperial Government and of the Chartered Company; and though I was
ably seconded by Mr. Alfred Sharpe (now Her Majesty's Deputy Com-
missioner), the late Mr. Joseph Thomson, Mr. J. L. NicoU, and Mr. A. J.
Swann, it lay with me to propose a name, a geographical and political term
for the mass of territory thus secured as a dependency of the British
Empire.
On the principle that it is disastrous to a dog's interest to give him a
bad name, it should be equally true that much is gained at the outset of
any enterprise by bestowing on it a promising title. I therefore chose that of
'• British Central Africa " because I hoped the new sphere of British influence
might include much of Central Africa where, at the time these deeds were
done, the territories of Foreign Powers were in a state of flux, no hard and
fast boundaries having been determined ; therefore by fair means Great Britain's
share north of the Zambezi might be made to connect her Protectorate on
the Upper Nile with her Empire south of the Zambezi.
viii PREFACE
Treaties indeed were obtained which advanced British Territory from the
south end to the north end of Lake Tanganyika, where the British flag was
planted at the request of the natives by Mr. Swann in the spring of 1890;
but the said Treaties arrived too late for them to be taken into consideration at
the time the Anglo-German Convention was drawn up.
Consequently all our Government could do was to secure from Germany a
right of way across the intervening strip of territory; and the boundaries
of German East Africa and of the Congo Free State were*^ henceforth cpn-
terminous in the district immediately north of Tanganyika.
Similarly the agents of the King of the Belgians were able to make good
their claims to the country west and south-west of Tanganyika. Therefore
British Central Africa did not ultimately attain the geographical limits to which
I had originally aspired, and which would have amply justified its title. I
write this in (perhaps needless) apology for a name, which after all is a fairly
correct designation of a territory in the South Central portions of the continent
separated by several hundred miles from the East or West Coasts and
stretching up to the equatorial regions. An almost exact geographical parallel
to the British Central Africa Protectorate is the State of Paraguay^ in South
America; which, like British Central Africa, has only free access to the sea
by the course of a navigable river under international control.
This book, however, will deal only with that Eastern portion of British
Central Africa which has more or less come within my personal experience,
that is to say it is principally confined to the regions bordering on Lakes
Tanganyika and Nyasa and the River Shire.
Although for seven years I have been connected with these countries, and
have been gathering notes all that time, it is not to be supposed for a moment
that the results of my workwhich I now publish deal more than partially with
the many aspects and problems of this small section of Central Africa. The
careful reader will be conscious of gaps in my knowledge; but I think he
will not find his time wasted by vague generalisations. Such information as I
have to give is definite and practical. During my present leave of absence
I have deemed it wise to gather together and publish the information I
possess while an opportunity offered and before such information is useless
PREFACE
IX
or stale. Two years' more residence might have enabled me to answer to
my satisfaction many questions about which I am dubious, or of which I
know nothing. There will be room for specialists to take up many sections
of my book, and using, perhaps, this arrangement of material as a basis, to
correct and supplement the statements I have made.
MY TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IT gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the help I have received from many friends
and acquaintances in the production of this book. Sir Thomas Sanderson, k.cb.,
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has revised the proofs for me ;
and Sir Clement Hill, k.c.m.g., and the African Department of the Foreign Office
have enabled me to obtain information on various subjects ; Mr. Alfred Sharpe,
H. M. Deputy Commissioner and Consul for British Central Africa, has given me
from time to time interesting notes, and has taken a number of photographs for the
special purposes of the book ; Mr. J. B. Yule, b.c.a.a., of the North Nyasa district,
has lent me many of his photographs and has supplied me with information on native
manners and customs; Dr. David Kerr Cross, m.b., has allowed me to use his
valuable notes on Anthropology and the Diseases prevalent among Europeans and
natives ; Mr. P. L. Sclater, f.r.s.. Secretary of the Zoological Society, has rendered me
great help in preparing the chapters on Zoology, to which also Mr. Oldfield Thomas,
Dr. A. G. Butler, Mr. W. F. Kirby and other officials of the British Museum of Natural
History, and Mr. W. E. de Winton, f.z.s., have contributed information. Mr. Thiselton
Dyer, cm.g., Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, on this occasion (as indeed on all
others when I have applied to him) has given his assistance with promptness and
cordiality. Mr. Alexander Whyte, f.z.s. (Principal scientific officer in British Central
Africa), has supplied me with much interesting information during six years ; Mr. J. F.
Cunningham, Secretary of the British Central Africa Administration, and Mr. Wm.
Wheeler, Chief accountant to the same, have obtained for me photographs and informa-
tion under many heads ; the Rev. D. C. Ruifele-Scott, b.d. (of the Church of Scotland
Mission, Blantyre), collected five vocabularies for me : I have found his dictionary of
the Ci-nyanja (Chi-mananja) language a useful book of reference. The proprietors of
the Graphic have been very kind in permitting the reproduction in these pages of certain
drawings which originally appeared in one or other of their journals. Mr. Fred Moir,
the Secretary to the African Lakes Company, placed his photographs at my disposal and
helped me in various ways. The Rev. A. CJ. B. Glossop, m.a., Mr. R. Webb, and Miss
Palmer, of the Universities Mission, have been particularly kind in obtaining and
lending photographs. I have also derived much information from the notes and
reports of the late Lieut.-Colonel C. A. Edwards, of Commander Percy Cullen, Captain
W. H. Manning, and Messrs. J. E. McMaster, A. J. Swann, R. Codrington, H. A.
Hillier, J. O. Bowhill, the late J. L. Nicoll and Gilbert Stevenson, H. C. McDonald,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
J. McClounie, Donald Malloch, and the late E. G. Alston, of the British Central Africa
Administration ; while I have also to acknowledge the loan of photographs from Messrs.
E. Harrhy^ the late Gilbert Stevenson, Commander Percy Cullen, and many others.
A special mention should be made of the valuable Appendix to my chapter on
"The Botany of British Central Africa" — the list of all the known species of plants
collected there from 1859 to the present day. This list has been prepared for
inclusion in my book, under the direction of Mr. Thiselton Dyer, by Mr. I. H.
Burkill, B.A., a member of the Scientific Staff at Kew.
It will be seen from this long Ust of persons to whom I am indebted for information
that my book represents the summing-up of others' researches as well as of my own, and
that if praise be awarded to the book, as to the seven years' work of which it is the
record, that praise must be fairly distributed among many workers. It is pleasant to
me to think that one of my collaborators in this work is a native of British Central
Africa.
H. H. JOHNSTON.
ORTHOGRAPHY
THE orthography of native words and names used throughout this book (except
in the Vocabularies) is that of the Royal Geographical Society. All the
consonants are pronounced as in English (except "n," which stands for the nasal
sound in "ri«§i«^"), and the vowels as in Italian. Where the spelling of an
African name is established in a European language it is not altered : Examples —
Congo (Kongo), Mo9ambique (Msambiki), Quelimane (Keliman).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I.
„ II.
APPENDIX I
Chapter III.
„ IV.
appendix I
Chapter V.
„ VI.
APPENDIX I
» 2
Chapter VII.
„ VIII.
APPENDIX I
Chapter IX.
APPENDIX I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
n
if
n
Chapter X.
APPENDIX I
Chapter XI.
appendix i
Index
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
ANALYSIS OF NYASALAND COAL .
HISTORY . . . .
THE FOUNDING OF THE PROTECTORATE
THE pkESENT METHOD OF ADMINISTRATION
THE SLAVE TRADE ....
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
BILIOUS HiEMOGLOBINURIC OR " BLACK-WATER " FEVER
HINTS ON OUTFIT ....
MISSIONARIES ....
BOTANY .....
THE USEFUL FOREST TREES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
A LIST OF THE KNOWN PLANTS OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
ZOOLOGY .....
LIST OF KNOWN MAMMALS OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
REGULATIONS FOR PRESERVING BIG GAME
LIST OF KNOWN "BIRDS ....
LIST OF KNOWN REPTILES, BATRACHIANS, AND FISH
LIST OF KNOWN LAND SHELLS, MOLLUSCA, ETC
LIST OF KNOWN SPIDERS, CENTIPEDES, ETC
LIST OF KNOWN ORTHOPTERA, ETC.
LIST OF KNOWN LEPIDOPTERA .
LIST OF KNOWN COLEOPTERA
THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
DISEASES OF THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
LANGUAGES .....
VOCABULARIES ....
PAGE
I
35
51
52
So
152
155
160
184
185
189
207
227
233
285
322
326
347
361
363
365
380
381
385
389
473
479
488
533
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Frontispiece .
Vignette on Title-page
TITLE
An Angoni Warrior
Portrait of the Author .
ix '' My table in the wilderness" . . . .
2 Borassus Palms on the Shire . ...
3 Tropical Vegetation on the banks of the Shire
5 The Leopard's resting-place : a mountain stream in
Central Africa . . ...
7 A Tree Fern . . ...
8 " The Genius of the Woods " (green Turaco)
9 A Bamboo Thicket . . ...
10 ''Jack in the Beanstalks" Country
1 1 On the Plateau . . ...
12 The Mlanje Cedar Forests . ...
13 A Mlanje Mountain . . ...
14 A Rock Garden on Mlanje . ...
15 Papyrus Marsh and Saddle-billed Storks
22 The ** Sultan's Baraza" . . . .
25 Mount Kapemba, Tanganyika . ...
26 On Tanganyika . . ...
32 Niamkolo : South end of Tanganyika
33 " His Last Fight " . . ...
35 Forest on Mount Cholo, British Central Africa .
36 The Mlanje Range, seen from Zomba after rainfall
37 Native Clearing in Forest Country
38 The Shire at Chikwawa, just below the Murchison
FaUs . . . ...
39 Pinda Mountain and Pinda Marsh, Lower Shire.
40 Part of the Falls of the Ruo at Zoa
41 A Mountain Stream in Central Africa
42 First View of Mlanje Mountain from the Lower Shire
43 On the Upper Ruo . . ...
45 The Mlanje Range from the Tuchila Plain
46 Chambi Peak, Mlanje
47 The Likubula Gorge, Mlanje
48 On Lake Nyasa
49 The Lichenya River, Mlanje
50 The Shire Highlands .
53 Portrait of a Young Bushman
57 Governor's House, Tete
58 The Island of Mozambique, seen from the Mainland
SOURCE
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Miss Kate Pragnell,
** The Lady Photographers, " Sloane
Street, S.W.
Photograph by the Author.
»i »» »i
Drawing by the Author.
Painting by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
Painting by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
»» »» »i
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by Mr. Alfred Sharpe.
Photograph by Mr. Fred. M. Moir.
Painting by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
»» »» »>
Photograph by the Author.
>i »» »»
Drawing by the Author.
»» »i »»
>> )) ff
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by the Author.
»» »» >>
From a photograph.
»» »»
Drawing by the Author.
XVI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE TITLE
6i The Point on the South Shore of Lake Nyasa whence
the Lake was first seen by Dr. Livingstone and
Sir John Kirk in 1859 . ...
67 Mandala House, near Blantyre.
72 L. Monteith Fothering-ham . ...
72 John Lowe Nicoll . . ...
73 Group of Wankonde (North Nyasa)
74 John W. Moir . . ...
74 Frederick Maitland Moir . ...
75 Mr. Alfred Sharpe in 1890 . ...
79 On the Chinde, Mouth of the Zambezi .
83 Sergeant-Major Ali Kiongwe . ...
85 Mr. John Buchanan . . ...
87 Masea and Mwitu, two of Livingstone's Makololo .
91 Outskirts of Kotakota . ...
92 The late Tawakali Sudi ; Jumbe of Kotakota, etc. .
93 North Nyasa Arabs : Bwana 'Omari in the foreground
95 Langenburg, Capital of German Nyasaland
98 Sikh Soldiers of the Contingent now serving in British
Central Africa . . ...
99 H.M.S. MosquitOy a Zambezi Gunboat .
1 01 Fort Johnston in 1895 . ...
103 Captain Cecil Montgomery Maguire
107 Mr. William Wheeler . ...
109 Mr. Ntcoll's House at Fort Johnston
no Trees planted by Mr. Nicoll at Fort Johnston (two
years' growth) , . ...
1 1 1 The Nyasa Gunboats in Nkata Bay, West Nyasa
112 Lake Road, Chiromo . . . .
1 14 The Katunga Road in pre- Administration Days
115 Captain Sclater's Road to Katunga in process of
making . . ' . . .
1 16 Mr. J. F. Cunningham , ...
1 18 Lieut. -Colonel C. A. Edwards . ...
119 A Sikh Soldier in the B.C. A. uniform
1 19 A Sikh Soldier in fighting kit . . . .
1 20 A Sikh Soldier in fighting kit . . . .
120 Sikh Soldier in undress . . . .
121 Collector's House at Fort Lister
122 Captain W. H. Manning . ...
1 23 The Raphia Palm Marsh behind Chiwaura's
1 25 On the Beach at Monkey Bay . ...
1 26 One of Makanjira's Captured Daus at Monkey Bay .
1 27 The Hoisting of the Flag at Fort Maguire
1 29 The Beach at Makanjira's . ...
130 Three of Makanjira's Captured Daus (Fort Maguire)
131 A Rural Post Office, B.C.A. . ...
132 Watch Tower at Fort Johnston
133 A Sikh Sergeant-Major of the B.C.A. Contingent
134 Native Soldiers, B.C.A. . ...
135 An Atonga Soldier . . ...
136 In Zarafi's Town . . ...
SOURCE
Photograph by Mr. E. Harrhy.
Photograph by Mr. Fred. M. Moir.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
»» >i »i
Photograph by the Author.
From a photograph.
)t »»
Photograph by Mr. Fred. M. Moir.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by Commander Percy
Cullen.
Photograph by Mr. J. Trotter.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
From a photograph.
Photograph by the Author.
From a photograph.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. R. Webb.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
f» )f »>
Photograph by the late Gilbert
Stevenson.
Photograph by Mr. E. Harrhy.
»» II II
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by the late Gilbert
Stevenson.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
i» i» II
Photograph by the Author.
II i» II
Photograph by Rev. A. G. B. Glossop.
Photograph by Mr. E. Harrhy.
Photograph by Rev. A. G. B, Glossop.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by the Author.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xvu
(made by the B.C.A.
PAGE TITLE
137 Deep Bay Station
138 Mlozi, Chief of the North Nyasa Arabs
139 The Transports on their way to Karonga arriving in
Likoma Bay
141 A corner of Mlozi's Stockade
142 The Nyasa-Tanganyika Road
Administration)
143 The Nyasa-Tanganyika Road
144 In Fort Hill
145 The Stockade, Fort Hill
146 Mr. Alfred Sharpe in 1896
147 The Zomba-Mlanje Road
148 A Footbridge across the Mlungusi (Zomba)
150 The Gardens of the Residency, Zomba .
151 Mr. Whyte in the Gardens at Zomba
153 Barracks at Fort Johnston
156 A Swahili Slave-trader
157 Arab and Swahili Slave-traders captured by the
B.C.A. Forces
158 A ** Ruga-Ruga " (Mnyamwezi, Slave-raider employed
by the Arabs)
161 The Consulate, Blantyre
162 A CoflFee Tree in bearing
163 A Planter's temporary House .
165 Morambala Mount from the River Shire .
167 Sharrer's Store at Katunga
169 A**Capitao"
172 In Camp after a day's shooting
174 Natives making Bricks
'75 Cyprus Avenue, Blantyre
176 Eucalyptus Avenue
177 A Planter ....
178 An Ivory Caravan arriving at Kotakota
181 Ivory at Mandala Store (African Lakes Co.)
182 Kahn & Co.'s Trading Store at Kotakota
191 (r) Bishop Hornby (formerly of Nyasaland). (2) The
late Bishop Maples of Likoma
194 Native Church at Msumba, Lake Nyasa (Universities
Mission) .....
199 Blantyre Church (Church of Scotland Mission)
207 Flowers of the Gardenia Tree .
208 Lissochilus Orchids . . . .
209 An Angrcecum Orchis . . .
210 The ^»s^//f a or "Tiger" Orchis
211 A Red Lily . . ......
212 Oil Palms near the Songvve River, North Nyasa
212 Pl Raphia ^SiXm . . . .
213 Raphia Palm Fruiting
214 Borassus Palms . . . .
214 Wild Date Palms ....
215 A Kced SraXiQ (Phragw,ites communis) .
217 Plumes and Young Shoot of /%m§7//«V^j.
218 Barbed Seeds of Stipa . ...
SOURCE
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Photograph by Miss Palmer.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by the Author.
• >» »» »»
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
»> >» »»
Photograph by the Author.
»> »f if
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Photograph by Mr. E. Harrhy.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by Mr. Alfred Sharpe.
Drawing by the Author.
From a photograph.
Photograph by the late Gilbert
Stevenson.
Photograph by Mr. E. Harrhy.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. F. Cunningham.
From a photograph.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
From a photograph.
Photograph by Miss Palmer.
Photograph by Mr. R. Webb.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
>» ft >»
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Alfred Sharpe.
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author,
XVlll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE TITLE
2i8 Papyrus
2i8 A Large Duckweed (Pistia stratiotes)
219 An Alhiszia Tree
220 The Mucuna Bean
221 A Baobab Tree
222 The Euphorbia of the Plains
222 Candelabra Euphorbias
223 A Landolphia Liana .
224 Sansevieria Fibre Plant
225 Growth of Branches ; Foliage ; and Cones of the
Mlanje Cedar ( Widdringtonia wkytet) ,
226 Young Mlanje Cedar .
290 A Spotted Hyena
293 The Central African Zebra
297 Head of a Hippopotamus
299 A Wart Hog
302 Head of a Buffalo
303 Horns of Congo Buffalo
304 Livingstone's Eland .
305 Horns of Livingstone's Eland
306 A Male Bushbuck
307 Head of a Male Kudu
310 Diagram showing origin and relationships of modern
groups of Homed Ruminants
311 A Klipspringer
312 A Male Reedbuck
312 A Male Reedbuck's Head
313 A Male Waterbuck
314 A Female Waterbuck .
315 The Sable Antelope .
318 A Roan Antelope
319 Johnston's Pallah
320 The Nyasaland Gnu (Connochates taurinus johnstont)
329 The Elephant Marsh
335 The Syndactylous Foot
338 Spur- winged Geese .
339 Crowned Cranes
343 A Pelican of Tanganyika
343 A Stilt Plover
344 Head and foot of Fruit-pigeon
345 The Warlike Crested Eagle (SpiacBtus bellicosus)
346 A Small Falcon (Falco minor)
357 Nyasa Crocodiles
360 Chromis squamipennis ; Hemichromis Hvingsh
Fish of Lake Nyasa
361 Engraulicypris pinguis
371 A Termite Ant-hill
372 A Stick Insect
373 A Locustid Insect
378 The Tsetse Fly .
388 An Angoni Man from the West Nyasa district
390 A Mnyanja ....
391 A Yao Man ....
SOURCE
Drawing by the Author.
}) f) ft
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
»i »» >»
Drawing by the Author.
»» »» i»
Photograph by Mr. Foulkes.
Drawing by the Author.
»i II »»
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
From a photograph.
Drawing by the Author.
Engraving lent by the Zoological
Society.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Alfred Sharpe.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Drawing by the Author.
Zoological Society's Proceedings.
»i ♦» »»
Photograph by Miss Palmer.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XIX
PAGE TITLE
393 An Arab of Tanganyika (Rumaliza)
395- A Mtonga Man (to show profile)
397 A Yao of the Upper Shire
398 An Angoni from Mombera's country
399 Boy with well-developed breasts
400 A Young Mother (showing pendent breasts)
401 Wankonde Men
403 A Munkonde from North Nyasa
405 Sketch of Muscular Development in a Yao
407 A Yao Woman
411 Young Munkonde Girl
414 A Mtonga Man
416 ** A Good Mother " (Sketch of a Mnyanja woman)
420 A Yao of Zomba
421 A "Ruga-Ruga"
423 Specimens of Tatooing ; Comb ; Plugs for insertion
in ear, lips, nose, etc.
424 Example of ** Pelele" in upper lip
424 Another example of the " Pelele "
425 Wooden Hoe ; and wooden Hammer for beating out
bark cloth
427 North Nyasa Native smoking hemp
428 Banana Grove (Mlanje)
431 Wankonde Cattle
433 The Domestic Goat of -South and Central Africa
453 A typical Native House in South Nyasaland
454 A Nkonde House
457 Natives making a prone tree trunk into a canoe
457 A River Pilot
458 Weaving in Angoniland
459 Weaving on the Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau
460 Women making Pots .
461 Pipes for hemp and tobacco
462 Central African Weapons, etc. .
464 African Dancer and Drum Players
465 A Mu-lungu of South Tanganyika blowing
trumpet ....
467 A ** Sansi " .
470 Angoni Warriors
470 Head stuck on a pole after a native war .
472 "Young Africa"
SOURCE
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Alfred Sharpe.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Photograph by Mr. J. B. Yule.
Drawing by the Author.
ivory
480
Map showing the lines of migration of the Bantu
tribes in their invasion of Southern Africa
Photograph by Mr. Wm. Wheeler.
Drawing by the Author.
»i »> »»
Photograph by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the Author..
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
Photograph l>y Mr. Yule.
Photograph by Mr. R. Webb.
Photograph by Mr. Fred Moir.
>> »» it
Photograph by Mr. Yule.
Drawing by the Author.
tt a t»
From a photograph.
Drawing by the Author from a
photograph by Mr. Yule.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by Mr. J. F.Cunningham.
Drawing by the Author.
Photograph by the late Gilbert
Stevenson.
Drawing by the Author.
MAPS
1. Map of British Central Africa, showing approximate rainfall, naviga
bility of rivers, etc.
2. showing Orographical features
3- showing Administrative divisions
4. Map of the Shire Highlands
5. Map of British Central Africa, showing density of population and
aistribution of native tribes
6. showing Mission Stations and Foreign Settlers and Settlements
To face
page
»»
41
46
»»
d
• »»
»>
154
188
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
CHAPTER I.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
BEFORE I begin to discourse on the dull facts of history and geography
let me try to give my reader some idea of what the country looks like by
describing certain set scenes and panoramas. Perhaps from these he may
<lerive a clearer impression of the general appearance and the many diverse
aspects of British Central Africa.
A steadily flowing river. In the middle of the stream an islet of very green
grass, so lush and so thick that there are no bright lights or sharp shadows —
simply a great splodge of rich green in the middle of the shining water which
reflects principally the whitish-blue of the sky ; though this general tint becomes
opaline and lovely as mother-of-pearl, owing to the swirling of the current and
the red-gold colour of the concealed sand-banks which in shallow places
permeates the reflections. Near to the right side of the grass islet separated
only by a narrow mauve-tinted band of water is a sand-bank that has been
uncovered, and on this stands a flock of perhaps three dozen small white egrets
-closely packed, momentarily immoveable, and all stiffly regardant of the
approaching steamer, each bird with a general similarity of outline almost
Egyptian in its monotonous repetition.
The steamer approaches a little nearer, and the birds rise from the sand-bank
with a loose flapping flight and strew themselves over the landscape like a
shower of large white petals. On the left bank of the river looking down
stream is a grove of borassus palms rising above the waterside fringe of white
flowered reeds and apple-green mopheads of papyrus. The trunks of the
taller palms are smooth and whitish, but those of younger growth nearer to the
ground are still girt about by a fierce spiky hedge of dead black-stemmed
fronds. The crowns of the palm trees are symmetrical and fan-shaped in
general outline, while each individual frond has in its inner side a horse-shoe
curve. The colour of the fronds is a deep bluish-green singularly effective
in contrast with the grey-white column they surmount. The fruit of the palms,
when they can be descried, are like huge yellow-green apples thickly clustered
on pendent racemes protruding from the centre round which the fronds radiate.
2 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Behind the palm forest is a long line of blue mountain so far away that it is just
a faint blue silhouette against the paler blue sky. The afternoon is well advanced^
and in the eastern sky, which is a warm pinkish blue, the full moon has already
risen and hangs there a yellow-white shield with no radiance. On the opposite
bank of the river to the palm trees is a clump of tropical forest of the richest
green with purple shadows, lovely and seductive in its warm tints under the
rays of the late afternoon sun. Here are large albizzia trees.* Over the water-
side hang thick bushes overgrown with such a drapery of convolvulus creepers
BORASSUS PALMS ON THE SHIRE
that the foliage of the bush is almost hidden. This green lacework is beauti-
fully lit up by large mauve flowers. Above the bushes rise the heads of the
wild date palm, and amid the fronds of this wild date here and there a cluster
of its small orange fruit peeps out. These palms rise over masses of foliage,
and occasionally top the higher trees, growing within their canopy in almost
parasitic fashion. This cluster of tropical vegetation will be here and there
scooped out into fairy bowers by the irregularities of the bank. Sometimes the
trees will overhang the stream where the bank has been washed away. Tiny
kingfishers of purple-blue and chestnut-orange flit through the dark network of
gnarled trunks, and deep in this recess of shade small night-herons and bitterns
stand bolt upright, so confident in their assumed invisibility against a back-
' A genus related to the acacia with the thickest foliage of pinnate leaves looking at a distance like
green velvet.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 3
ground of brown and grey that they do not move even when the steamer passes
so close by them as to brush against the tangle of convolvulus and knock down
sycomore figs from the glossy-leaved, many-rooted fig trees.
It is a backwater on the Shire river, or perhaps not so much a backwater
as a sluggish branch of the stream which the main current has deserted and left
hidden away between bosky islands and the high wooded bank. The flow
of the current is not discernible, and the reflections are glassy and mirror-like
in their exactitude, except that the surface of the water in the foreground is
strewn with oval lotus leaves looking in shape and even colour exactly like those
copper ashtrays or cardtrays made in Indian ware with slightly turned -up
crinkled edges. The scene is much framed in with overarching foliage and
branches from island and opposite hank. On this shore of the mainland
TROPICAL VEGETATION ON THE BANKS OF THE SHIRE
there are tall acacia trees with smooth pale-green trunks and whitish-green
branches, and a feathery light-green foliage spangled with hanging clumps
of tiny golden-stamened, petalless flowers which exhale the most penetrating,
absolute, and honeyed of all flower scents, a scent so strong that it
may be wafted on a still, hot day across a mile of water. In the middle
distance is a fine group of trees, elm-like in shape, growing on the river bank
above the flood limit. In the farthest distance a few sparse-foliaged acacias
stand out against the grey-blue sky above a high fence of reeds. In the
nearer distance one clump of spear-like reeds rises from the waterlilies and
shows some fine white flowering plumes against the dark background of the
forest clump. In the foreground is a huge snag, the relic of a fine forest
tree that has been washed down in the flood and stranded in the mud of
this backwater. On its branches are perched darters with sheeny plumaged
bodies of greenish-black and chestnut-coloured necks ending in a head and
spear-like beak, so slim that it seems a mere termination of the angular
weapon of the neck. Amongst the waterlily leaves rise the beautiful blue-pink
flowers that are styled the lotus.
4 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
We are going to climb a mountain. First there are the low foothills to
surmount. The soil is red and hard ; the grass is scattered and in yellow wisps,
and the many wild flowers are drooping, for it is the end of the dry season.
The trees are in foliage, though the rains have not yet fallen, and the young
leaves at this stage are seldom green, but the most beautiful shades of carmine
pink, of pinkish yellow, of greenish mauve, and even inky purple. Here and
there sprays of foliage are in a more advanced development, and are green with
a bluish bloom, or of the brightest emerald. But the height of the trees is not
great, and their leaves, though large, are scattered in a tufty growth that yields
but a feeble patchwork of shade from the hot sun ; the branches are coarse,
and thick, and seldom straight, they look just like the branches of trees drawn
from imagination by amateur water-colour artists. In many cases the bark
is still black and sooty with the scorching of the recent bush fires. The general
impression of all this vegetation, though one is forced to admire the individual
tints of the newly-opened leaves, is disappointing. It is scrubby. The land-
scape has not the dignity of a blasted heath, or the simplicity of a sandy
desert; its succession of undulations of low scattered forest of such a harlequin
variation of tints is such as to produce no general effect of definite form and
settled colour on the eye. But this is a good game country. As you plod
along the hard red path, baked almost into brick by the blazing sun acting on
the red mud of the rainy season, you will suddenly catch sight of a splendid
sable antelope with ringed horns, almost in a half oval, a black and white face,
a glossy black body, white^ stomach, fringed and tufted tail, and heavy black
mane ; or, it may be, his beautiful female of almost equal bulk, but with
smaller horns, and with all the markings and coloration chestnut and white
instead of white and black. Unless you are very quick with your rifle, the
beast will soon be hid and almost undiscoverable amongst the low trees and
bushes.
The path is broken here and there by seams of granite. Every now and
then there is a regular scramble over wayworn rocks; granite boulders are more
and more interspersed amongst the red clay. Between the boulders grow
aloes with fleshy leaves of green, spotted with red, and long flower spikes
of crimson which end in coral -coloured flower buds — buds which open
grudgingly at the tip; the edges of the sprawling aloe leaves are dentelated,
and in their tendency to redness sometimes all green is merged in a deep
vinous tint.
Now there is less scrub, and the trees as we ascend become larger and more
inclined to stand in clumps; their foliage is thicker. We are approaching a
stream, and its course is marked by a forest of a different type, fig trees of
various species, tall parinariums (a tree which bears a purple plum), huge-
leaved gomphias, and velvet-foliaged albizzias. On either side of the stream,
also, there is a jungle of bamboos, and the path descends from out of the weary-
glare of the white sunlight on the red clay into a cool, moist, green tunnel
through the numberless spear-heads of bamboo leaves. There are many ferns
on either side of the stream bank and beautiful carmine lilies^ are growing
by the water*s edge, but as the rains are still withheld there is but a thin film of
water slipping down over the grey rocks and brown pebbles, and the stream
may be easily crossed from stepping stone to stepping stone. Then a clamber
up the opposite bank and through the bamboo out once more into the scorching
sunshine, and so on and on along a winding path through a native village
' See illustration, page 211.
THE leopard's RESTING-PLACE: A MOUNTAIN STREAM IN CENTRAL AFRICA
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
7
with its untidy haycocks of huts, its clumps of bananas, plantations of sweet
potatoes and tobacco, and adjoining stubble fields where gaunt isolated stalks
of sorghum still linger. The blue mountain wall towards which we are aiming
rises higher into the sky, and its blue vagueness becomes resolvable into a detail
of purple and yellow grey. But though the sun is hotter than ever as it
approaches the zenith our continual ascent brings us to a region that enjoys
more benign conditions of nioisture and coolness at night time. The young
green grass is more advanced than down below, the herbage is so thick that the
red soil is almost hidden. The wild flowers commence to be beautiful. There
are innumerable ground orchids in various
shades of mauve or yellow, or with strange
green blossoms, or flowers of richest orange.
A beautiful white clematis grows from an
upright stalk, and here and there are
bushes of a kind of mallow, which bears
large azalea -like clusters of the most
perfect blush pink. Higher up still there
are more and more flowers in many shades
of blue and mauve and yellow. There is
a small kind of sunflower that is a deep
maroon crimson, and another coreopsis
more like the cultivated sunflower with
flaming yellow petals. In moist places —
and the path is now constantly crossing
small brooks — grows the dissotis, with
large flowers of deep red -mauve. The
path curves and twists and runs up above
heights and then down into deep ravines,
and still the flowers grow thicker and
thicker and more lovely, till in the ecstasy
of a colour dream, all remembrance of the
sun's heat, of your great fatigue and your
sweat -drenched clammy garments is for-
gotten. On the hill-sides there are frequent
clumps of wild date palms, some of which
rise to a great height with their slender
stems often bowed or curved and seldom
perpendicular. Then you come to your first tree-fern, or if you are a botanist
you are delighted with a rare cycad growing majestically alone and looking
very much as though it were an admirable piece of artificial foliage executed in
green bronze. Still ascending, with a pause here and a rest there in the
absolute shade of the great forest trees, tree-ferns become so abundant at
last as to make fairy forests of themselves, excluding other arborescence.
Then they give way again to densely- packed thick -foliaged forest trees of
low growth through which a path winds over many a bole and through
many a bamboo bower in deep green gloom. Through this gloom flit the
crimson - winged turacos, the lovely genii of the African forest — birds of
purple-blue, bluish-green and grass-green silky plumage with a white-tipped
crest, red parrot- like beaks, and bare red cheeks, but always, no matter what
their species, with the broad, rounded pinion feathers of the wing the most
perfect scarlet-crimson ever seen in nature. The loud parrot cries of these
A TREE-FERN
8
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
birds (not unmelodious) echo and re-echo through the forest glades as the>r
call to one another; and here is a crimson flash, and there is a long crimson
streak drawn across the green background as they fly backwards and forwards
before the delighted intruder.
Runnels of water will at times trickle through the black leaf mould of the
scarcely discernible path, and you will come to many a fairy glen where the
dark, clear, cold water lies in deep pools amongst the ferns.
'*THK GENIUS OF THE WOODS " (GREEN TURACO)
The forest for a time will give place to a bamboo thicket, the bamboos
perhaps of a different species to those lower down, with smaller and finer leaves
of a deeper green ; nothing more beautiful than these bamboo glades is to
be seen in the way of vegetation. It is difficult to express in words the
effect which is produced by thousands of narrow, pointed leaves of shiny surface
shaped like small spear blades — a wall of green facets — moving at times with
a faint tremor which sends a shimmering of green around you, accompanied by
the tiniest whispering sound. No transformation scene ever shown on the stage
was so beautiful as a bamboo glade on the high mountain side with, invariably,,
water falling down the centre of the picture in tiny cascades and the soft ground
carpeted with a deposit of cast leaves like thin spear blades of pale gold.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 9
Beyond the bamboos the path becomes terrible. You emerge from the
gloom of this first forest belt on to bare rock and obtain glorious views over the
flower-braided hill-slopes below, over the band of dark green velvet forest, and
beyond into plains that are purple-blue with a diamond flash of water here and
there till the horizon is closed up with the palest silhouettes of other
mountains.
The path is now scarcely apparent. It is a hazardous progress up a steep
face of smooth polished rock from grass clump to grass clump. Here and there
on ledges of the rock where a little vegetable soil may have collected tussocks
of grass are growing, and these afibrd a precarious foothold ; nevertheless
though there is no good path it is obvious' that men often pass this way up
and down the mountains since the tussocks of grass that are regularly trodden
A BAMBOO THICKET
on are grey and dead in comparison to those untouched by the human foot,
which remain green. Here the difficulty of your ascent will be lightened by
the joy you must feel in the lobelias, if you have any sense of colour. In the
crevices of these glabrous-looking mountain ribs will grow bunches of lobelias
extravagant in their thousands of blue flowerets.
At last the ascent of this mountain wall is safely accomplished, and you
fling yourself panting on short wiry turf growing in clumps and know that you
have reached the limits of " J ack-in-the- Beanstalk's" country.
All the great mountains of South Central Africa seem to be isolated
fragments of an older plateau, and most of them present more or less precipitous
wall-like sides rising above the foot hills, which latter are created by land slides
and dibriSy or represent smaller remains of the plateau that in course of time
have been more worn away than the larger blocks constituting the big
mountains or the long mountain ranges. These wall-like sides are naturally
difficult of ascent ; but when one has clambered up over the edge, and on to
lO
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the more level surface of the upraised tableland, it is a veritable " Jack-in-the
Beanstalk's" country, quite different in aspect to the tropical plains below.
Turning your eyes away, however, from the blue gulf which yawns beneath the
precipitous ascent of several thousand feet — which blue gulf after analysis by
the eye resolves itself into the faint map of many leagues of surrounding
countries — you find that the plateau on which you stand is a little world in
itself. The general surface is rolling grass land and beautifully-shaped downs,
with little streams and little lakes, and little forests ; and again from out of this
tableland little mountains of one to three thousand feet, chiefly of granite, rise
up into the clouds and in their austere rockiness contrast charmingly with the
lawns of short grass, the flowery vales, and the rich woodlands at their base.
Altogether the scenery is pretty rather than grand, and if you could forget the
ascent you have made and your geographical position, you might imagine
*'JACK-IN.THE-BEANSTALK*S'* COUNTRY
yourself in Wales, and believe that country of this sort stretched inimitably
before you for miles and miles, were it not that upon walking a few steps
in another direction you suddenly stop shuddering on the sharp edge of an
awful gulf— a gulf which on a misty day might be the end and edge of the
world.
It is a " Jack-in-the-Beanstalk" country. A little section of land upraised
and quite apart from the rest of Tropical Africa with a climate and flora of its
own, and as a rule without indigenous human inhabitants. The fauna of these
altitudes has usually peculiar features though most of the mammals differ but
little from those of the plains. Antelopes, buffalos, and even elephants will
scramble to these heights, if they be in any way accessible, for the sake of the
sweet herbage ; therefore in your ramblings over these plateaux you may catch
sight of big game, and even meet in its train the lion and leopard. The woods
of Cape-oak and other evergreens — the branches of which are hung with long
sprays of greenish-white lichen, "the old man's beard "^ — are resonant with the
^ Ustteay the * * orchilla '' weed of commerce.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
1 1
cries of turacos, possibly a species slightly differing from that found in the
warmer climate of the plains or hill-sides. Most of the other birds will be
allied to South African, Abyssinian or even European species — large purple
pigeons with yellow beaks or pretty doves with roseate tinge and white heads ;
orioles of green and yellow and grey; chats, buntings, fly-catchers, plump
speckled francolin and tiny harlequin-quails ; few, if any birds of prey, but
many great-billed black and white ravens and an occasional black crow. The
wild flowers remind one touchingly of home. There are violets, there is a rare
primula, there are buttercups, forget-me-nots, St. John's wort, anemones, vivid
blue hound's-tongue and heather. Unfamiliar, however, are the lovely ground
orchids, the strange proteas and the " everlasting " flowers. Also there are strag-
gling arborescent heaths, almost like small conifers in appearance, though other
forms more closely resemble our own heather. Near the edges of the plateau
ON THE PLATEAU
amongst the rocks grows a big kind of tree-lily with a gouty, pachydermatous,
branching stem and tufts of grass-like leaves. If it be, as I imagine, the early
spring when you are ascending the mountain, these otherwise ugly shrubs will
be covered with white lily-like blossoms.
The air of these lofty plateaux is cool and bracing and the sunshine harmless
in the day-time. When the weather is fine the sky is a lovely pale-blue.
Daylight under these conditions is one long inexhaustible joy of living.
F*atigue is not felt ; the sun's heat is pleasantly warm ; a moderate thirst can
be delightfully quenched in the innumerable ice-cold brooks ; but when the
sun is set — set amid indescribable splendour in what appears to be the middle
of the sky, so high is the horizon — nature wears a different even an alarming
aspect : unless you have a cheerful log-hut to enter or a well-pitched comfortable
tent (with a roaring fire burning at a safe distance from the tent porch)
you will feel singularly dismal. Perhaps a thunder-storm may have come
on. Enormous masses of cloud may be bearing down on and enveloping
you — thunder of the most deafening description breaks around you and
12
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
re-echoes worse than any roar of artillery in battle from every ravine and
hill-side. The drenching rain or the driving mist may be chilling your
half-naked followers into blue numbness, and even bringing them, if they are
unsheltered, dangerously near death from cold. Even if it be a fine night,
and the moon shining, there will be something a little repellent and awe-
striking in the world outside your tent. The forest, to the vicinity of which
you have come for shelter, is very black, and the strange cries of bird and
beast coming from these depths quite confirm the native belief that the trees
are haunted with the spirits of the departed. The stars seem so near to you.
I'HE MLANJE CEDAR FORESTS
and if in the moonlight you have found your way over the tussocky grass
to the edge of the plateau and looked forth on a sleeping universe you feel
a little frightened — so completely are you aloof from the living world of
man. It is much pleasanter, therefore, to be shut up in a good tent or log
cabin, snugly ensconced in bed (for it is probably freezing hard) reading a novel.
We are on the upper plateau of Mlanje, grandest of all British Central
African mountains. It is early morning, say 6.30 a.m. We have been roused
by our native attendants, have had a warm bath and a cup of coffee and are
now inspecting our surroundings in the glory of the early sunshine. On the
short wiry grass there lies a white rime of frost as we walk down the slope
to the cedar woods. Here rises up before us a magnificent forest of straight
and noble trees, of conifers ^ which in appearance resemble cedars of Lebanon
' IVuidrini^foftia whyiei.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
13
though they have also a look of the Scotch pine and are actually in their
natural relationship allied to the cypress. Their trunks are straight and the
outer bark is often bleached white ; the wood is the tint of a cedar pencil. The
foliage which on the older trees grows in scant tufts (leaving a huge white
skeleton of sprawling branches) on the younger trees is abundant, bluish-green
ON MLANJE MOUNTAIN
below and the dark, sombre green of the fir tree above. The extremities of
each branch have a pretty upward curl.
Much of the undergrowth of these cedar woods is a smaller species of
Widdringtonia with a lighter green foliage, most gracefully pendent and starlike
in each cluster of needles.
Oh ! the deep satisfying peace of these cedar woods. The air is thick with
the odour of their wholesome resin. The ground at our feet is a springy
14
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
carpet of emerald green moss out of which peep anemones and primulas.
Here indeed when the mild warmth of the day has dried up the night dews
might one lie half stupefied by the rich aroma of the cedar wood, " the world
forgetting, by the world forgot," while the big purple pigeons with white-
streaked necks and yellow beaks resume their courtship on the branches above
A ROCK GARDEN ON MLANJE
our heads. Beyond the cedar wood is the mountain-side strewn with innumer-
able boulders and cubes of rock which are interspersed with huge everlasting
flowers and a strange semi-Alpine vegetation. If we are trying to scramble up
these to reach the summit we shall hear from time to time the musical
trickle of water in caverns and holes, closed in by these strong boulders and
thickly hung with mosses and ferns. Should we then have reached any
of the great summits of Mlanje and looked down into its central crater we
shall realise that here must have been at one time volcanic action. The
PAPYRUS MARSH AND SADDLE-BILLRD STORKS
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 17
scene before us is an indescribable wilderness of stones and boulders which look
as though they had been hurled right and left from some central eruption.^
On the left-hand side stretches an arid plain of loose friable soil once formed
below the water, and white with the lime of decomposed shells blazing in the
reverberating sunshine of noonday — the refracted heat of its surface so great
that the horizon quivers in wavy lines before our half-blinded eyes ; on the
other side a papyrus marsh with open pools of stagnant water. Beyond the
arid waste of light soil on which a few grey wisps of grass are growing, lie
the deep blue waters of a lake — almost an indigo blue at noonday and seen
from this angle. Behind the papyrus marsh is a line of pale blue-grey
mountains — a flat wash of colour, all detail veiled by the heat haze. We
are at the mouth of a great river and the marshes on one side of us repre-
sent either its abandoned channels half dried up or its back water at times
of overflow. For a mile or so the eye, turning away with relief from the
scorching, bleached, barren plain which lies between us and the lake, looks
over many acres of apple-green papyrus. The papyrus, as you will observe, is
a rush with a smooth, round, tubelike stem, sometimes as much as six feet in
height. The stem terminates in a great mop-head of delicate green filaments
which are often bifid at their ends. Three or four narrow leaflets surround the
core from which the filaments diverge. If the papyrus be in flower small
yellow-green nodules dot the web of the filaments. With the exception of
this inflorescence the whole rush — stem, leaves, and mop-head — is a pure apple-
green and the filaments are like shining silk.
The water in the open patches in between the islands and peninsulas of
papyrus is quite stagnant and unruffled and seemingly clear. Sometimes the
water is black and foetid but its tendency to corruption is often kept in check
by an immense growth of huge duck weed, — the Pistia stratioteSy for all the
world like a pale green lettuce.
A pair of saddle-billed storks are wading through the marsh, searching
for fish and frogs and snakes. Their huge beaks are crimson -scarlet, with
a black band, and their bodies are boldly divided in coloration between snowy
white, inky-black, and bronze-green.
On Lake Nyasa. The steamer on which you are a passenger, in imagina-
tion, has left her safe anchorage in the huge harbour of Kotakota in the early
morning and rounding the long sandspit which shields the inlet from the open
lake, finds herself breasting a short, choppy sea. The waves at first are a
muddy green where the water is shallow but soon this colour changes to a deep,
cold, unlovely indigo. A strong southern breeze is blowing in your teeth and
each billow is crested with white foam. The " Mwera " or south-easter — the
wind which ravages the lake at certain times— is to-day against you, and you
are condemned by circumstances to steam southwards opposed by this strong
gale. As you get out into the middle of the lake the situation is almost one
of danger, for the vessel on which you are travelling, though dignified with the
name of "steamer," is not much larger than a Thames steam launch. In such
weather as this she could not possibly go far with the billows on her beam
* These isolated fragments of granitic rock are found miles away from the Mlanje mountain in the
plains below bearing all the appearance of having been hurled through the air for miles into the surround-
ing country. Mlanje mountain is evidently a large slice left of the pre-existing tableland from which
again volcanic cones have risen.
1 8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
or she would be rolled over ; then again if the steamer went northwards with
a following sea she would be speedily swamped ; her only course — and it
happens on this occasion to fit in with preconcerted arrangements — is to steam
southwards, facing both wind and waves. At times the vessel seems to be
standing on end as she crests some huge ridge of water ; and as she descends
into the furrow this broad-backed roller comes up under her stern and floods
the upper deck. Then again she mounts, to fall again and mount again and
fall again, until the best sailor in the world would be dizzy with this hateful
see-saw motion. In fact, if it were not quite so dangerous, an ordinary
passenger would give way to seasickness ; yet on this occasion you are too
frightened that the ship may be swamped and founder to bestow much attention
on the qualms of your stomach.
But the captain is hopeful, and tells you that as this is the third day the
wind has been blowing it will probably cease towards the evening. Overhead,
in spite of the whistling wind, the sky is clear of clouds and a pale blue. The
lake is dark indigo, flecked with white foam — not the rich, creamy, thick, white
froth of saltwater, but a transparent clear foam like innumerable glass drops
reflecting the sunlight coldly from many facets.
The lake is perhaps forty miles broad. North and south there is a clear sea
horizon. East and west there are pale greyish-blue outlines of mountain
ranges ; but owing to the driving wind and the slight diffusion of ' spray at
lower levels, or some such atmospheric cause, the lower slopes of the mountains
are invisible and the distant land has no direct connection with the sharp-cut
line of the indigo, foam-flecked water.
But with the afternoon heat the wind gradually lessens in force — lessens
to a positive calm an hour before sunset ; and the waters of the lake so easily
aroused are as quickly and as easily appeased. As the wind diminishes in
force the waves grow less and less till they are but a gentle swell or a mere
ripple. At last, half an hour before sunset, you have the following scene before
you. The steamer is now travelling smoothly and on an even keel along the
south-east coast of Nyasa. The eastern sky is a yellowish white, which near
the horizon becomes a very pale russet pink. The distant range of mountains
facing the rays of the almost setting sun has its hollows and recesses and
ravines marked in faint shadows of pinkish-purple, while the parts bathed in
sunlight are yellowish grey. On the left-hand side of the picture the land
projects somewhat into the lake in a long spit surmounted with low wooded
hills, where the ground is reddish-brown dotted with white rocks, and the trees
are a warm russet green in their lights and mauve-blue in their shadows. In
the middle of the view, breaking the long line of the water horizon under the
distant mountains are three warm-tinted blots of brown-pink, that represent
three islets.
The water of the lake, however, gives the greatest feast of colour. Its
ground tint near the horizon is a lemon white, which changes insensibly
to silver-blue close up to the ship's side. But this immobile sheet of lemon-
white, melting into palest azure, is scratched here and smeared there (like plush
which has had the nap brushed the wrong way) with streaks and patches of
palest amber. The whole effect is that of a great mirror of tarnished silver.
The amber-white of these disconnected areas of ripples, where the expiring
breeze faintly ruffles the perfect calm of the reflected sky, resembles the pinkish
brown stains on a silver surface just becoming discoloured from exposure to
the light.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 19
Presently it will be night with a sky of purple grey studded with pale gold
specks of stars and planets, all of which will be reflected in the calm lake,
so that the steamer will seem to be carving her way through a liquid universe.
In a native village near to a great river there are three Europeans in a hut.
Although styled generically a " hut '' this native dwelling is of considerable size,
with a high-peaked thatched roof like a broad-mouthed funnel in shape, the
straggling ends of the thatch coming down to within a couple of feet of the
ground and so, to some extent, shielding from the sun the raised verandah of
grey mud which runs half round the outside. But the low-hanging thatch
screens the doorway into the hut, making the interior dark even though the
European occupants have broken small holes in the clay walls to let in a
little more light from the shaded verandah. Inside, the rafters of palm ribs,
which form the structure of the roof, are all shiny cockroach-black with the
smoke of many months which has ascended to the roof and found its way
out through the thatch. Cobwebs, covered with soot, hang from the rafters.
Of the three white men inside this hut two are well and hearty — faces red,
and arms sun-tanned — and are seated upon empty provision cases : the third is
sick unto death, with dull eyes, haggard cheeks and — if there is daylight enough
to see it by — a complexion of yellowish-grey. He is stfetched on a low camp
bed, is dressed in a dirty sleeping suit, and partially covered by two trade
blankets of garish red, blue and yellow, one of which slips untidily to the dusty
floor of hardened earth. The two healthy men are smoking pipes vigorously ;
but the smell of strong Boer tobacco is not sufficient to disguise the nauseous
odours of the sick room, and the fumes of whisky, which arise both from an
uncorked bottle and from the leavings of whisky and water in two enamelled-
iron cups.
By the sick man's bedside on a deal box is an enamelled-iron basin con-
taining grey gruel-like chicken broth, in which large bits of ship's biscuit are
floating. The soup has been made evidently without skill or care, for it has the
yellow chicken fat floating on the top and even an occasional drowned feather
attached to the sodden remnants of fowl. Also, there are a cup containing
strong whisky and water (untouched), a long-necked bottle of lime juice, and
a phial of Quinine pills.
The sick man turns ever and anon to the further side of the bed to vomit,
and after one of these attacks he groans with the agony of futile nausea.
" Cheer up, old chap !" says one of his companions, *' we sent yesterday morning
to the doctor-man at the mission station : it is only about thirty miles away and
he ought to be here this afternoon." The doorway is darkened for a moment
but not with the doctor's advent. A negro girl has stooped under the thatch to
enter through the low doorway and for a moment obscures the dubious light
refracted from the small piece of blazing sun-lit ground visible under the eaves.
" Here, ^V, you black slut," shouts one of the men (he with the sandy beard and
pockmarked face), lifting up a short whip of hippopotamus hide to enforce his
remark. ** Hold on," says the other healthy one, a tall brawny Cornishman,
with dark eyes and black beard, " it is only his girl ; harmless enough too, poor
thing, considering she has known him more'n a fortnight. It's wonderful what
these nigger girls '11 do for a white man.'
** There are all sorts of girls, there is every kind of girl,
There are some that are foolish, and many that are wise,
You can trust them all, no doubt, but be careful to look out
For the harmless little girlie with the downcast eyes,"
20 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
sings the pockmarked man, in reminiscence of a smoking concert he attended
months ago at Salisbury, before he and his companions tramped northwards
across the Zambezi in search of gold and any other profitable discoveries they
might make in the unknown North.
The woman, who has taken little or no notice of the other men, has
seated herself on the floor near the sick man's bed and is fanning away
the flies from his death-like face. He scarcely notices this attention, con-
tinuing as before to roll his head languidly across the rolled-up coat which
serves as pillow.
Outside the hut it is a bright world enough — a sky of pure cobalt, with
white cumulus clouds moving across it before a pleasant breeze. Except
where these clouds cast a momentary shadow there is a flood of sunshine,
making the dry thatched roofs of the round haycock houses glitter; and
as to the bare beaten ground of the village site, in this strong glare of
sunshine you would hardly realise it is mere red clay : it has an effulgent
blaze of flame -tinted white except where objects cast on it circumscribed
shadows of a purple black.
Tw^o or three native curs, of the usual fox-coloured, pariah type, lie sleeping
or grubbing for fleas in the sunshine. A lank, wretched-looking mangy bitch,
with open sores on her ears and fly-infested dugs, trails herself wearily from hut
to hut, seeking food, but only to be repulsed by kicks from unseen feet, or
missiles hurled by unseen hands. Little chocolate -coloured children are
playing in the dust, or baking in the sun clay images they have made
with dust and water. Most of the houses have attached to them a woman's
compound at the back, fenced in with a high reed fence. If you entered
this compound from the verandah, or peeped over the high fence, you would
see cheerful garrulous women engaged in preparing food. A steady " thud,
thud ! " " thud, thud ! " comes from one group of hearty girls with plump
upstanding breasts who, glistening with perspiration, are alternately pounding
corn in a wooden mortar shaped like a dice box. Each in turn, as she takes
the pestle, spits on her hands and thumps the heavy piece of wood up and
down on the bruised corn. Another woman is grinding meal on the surface
of a large flat stone by means of a smaller stone which is smooth and round ;
again, another wife with the aid of other flattened stones bruises green herbs
mixed with oil and salt into a savoury spinach. In all the compounds and
about the streets are hens and broods of chickens. Mongrel game-cocks are
sheltering themselves from the heat under shaded verandahs, which they share
with plump goats of small size and diverse colours — white, black, chestnut, grey;
black and white, white and chestnut, grey and white. The sun-smitten village
at high noon is silent but for the low-toned talk of the women, of the " thud,
thud " of the corn-mortars, the baaing and bleating of an imprisoned kid, or the
sudden yelp of the half-starved bitch when a missile strikes her.
Beyond the collection of haycock huts (occupying perhaps a half square
mile in area), is a fringe of bananas, and beyond the bananas from one point
of view the glint of a river, and across the river a belt of black-green forest.
In other directions, away from the water-side is red rising ground sprinkled
with scrubby thin-foliaged trees, among which here and there grows a huge
gouty baobab, showing at this season digitate leaves like a horse-chestnut's,
and large tarnished white flowers that depend by a straight string-like stalk
from the pink and glabrous branches.
Noon declines to afternoon. The two men who are whole still remain in
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 21
the hut ; the sick man is obviously sicker than before. His face is an obscure
yellow, he has ceased to vomit, he is no longer restless, he lies in a stupor,
breathing stertorously. The black-bearded man smokes, and reads a tattered
novelette, glancing from time to time uneasily at the one who lies so ill, but
trying to still his anxiety by assuring himself '' that the poor beggar has got
to sleep at last." The man with the red hair and pockmarked cheeks sings
snatches of music-hall songs at intervals and drinks whisky and water, trying
hard to keep up his courage. For he is in a cold-sweating dread of death by
fever — a death which can come so quickly. A month ago- there were four of
them, all in riotous health, revelling in the excitements of exploring a new
country, confident that they had found traces of gold, merrily slaughtering
buffalo, eland, kudu and sable ; sometimes after elephant with the thought of the
hundreds of pounds' worth of ivory they might secure with a few lucky shots ;
killing "hippo" in the river and collecting their great curved tusks for subsequent
sale at a far-off trading station ; trafficking with the natives in the flesh of all
the beasts they slew and getting in exchange the unwholesome native meal,
bunches of plantains, calabashes of honey, red peppers, rice, sugar cane, fowls,
eggs, and goat's milk. They had not treated the natives badly, and the natives
in a kind of way liked these rough pioneers who offered no violence beyond an
occasional kick, who were successful in sport and consequently generous in
meat distribution, and who gave them occasional "tots" of "kachaso,"* and
paid for the temporary allotment of native wives in pinches of gunpowder,
handfuls of caps, yards of cloth, old blankets and clasp knives. Yes ; a month
ago they were having a very good time, they were not even hampered by the
slight restraints over their natural instincts which might exist in Mashonaland.
They had found obvious signs of payable gold — " an ounce to the tori if only
machinery could be got up there for crushing the rock " — they would return to
the south and float a company ; meantime they had intended to see a little more
of this bounteous land blessed with an abundant rainfall, a rich soil, a luxuriant
vegetation, a friendly people, grand sport, and heaps of food ; and then, all at
once, one of them after a bottle of whisky overnight and a drenching in a
thunderstorm next day, complains of a bad pain in his back. A few hours
afterwards he commences to vomit, passes black-water, turns bright yellow,
falls into a stupor, and in two days is dead. "Was it the whisky, or the
wetting, or neither? It could not be the whisky: good liquor was what was
wanted to counteract this deadly climate ; no, it could not be the whisky ; on
the contrary," thought the man who turns these thoughts over musingly in his
mind, " he himself must take more whisky to keep his spirits up. When old
Sampson was better and could be carried in a hammock, they would all
make straight for the Lake and the steamers and so pass out of the country,
perhaps returning to work the gold, perhaps not."
The heat of the afternoon increases. The man on the bed still snores, the
woman still fans, Blackbeard has fallen asleep over his novelette and Redhead
over his whisky and water. The silence of the village is suddenly broken by a
sound of voices and the tramp of feet Blackbeard wakes up, rubs his eyes
and staggers out into the sunshine to greet a thin wiry European with bright
eyes and a decided manner. " Oh . . . you are the Mission doctor, aren't you ?
Come in — in here. He is pretty bad, poor chap, but I expect you will do him
a lot of good." ...
It is early evening. The two mining prospectors have left the hut, advised
' Fire-water — whisky.
22
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
by the doctor to chuck their whisky bottles into the river and go out shooting.
The former piece of advice they have not followed, but the latter they have
gladly adopted, frightened at the aspect of their dying comrade, and only too
glad to leave the responsibility of his care to the Mission doctor, who for
two hours has tried all he knows to restore the patient to consciousness, without
success. The woman has helped him as far as she was able, the doctor much
too anxious about his patient to concern himself about the propriety of her
position in the case. Outside the hut there is a cheerful noise of the aw^akening
village settling down to its evening meal. Flights of spurwinged geese, black
storks and white egrets pass in varied flocks and phalanxes across the rosy
western sky. But inside, by the light of two candles stuck in bottles, which the
doctor has lit to replace the daylight, it may be seen that his patient is nearing
the end; yet as the end comes there is a momentary return to consciousness.
The stertorous breathing has given way to a scarcely perceptible respiration, and
as the doctor applies further means of restoration a sudden brightness and light
of recognition come into the dull eyes. The expiring man tries to raise
his head — cannot ! and to speak — but no sound comes from his whitened
lips, then one long drawn bubbling sigh and the end has come.
A great, untidy, Arab town near the shores of a lake, the blue waters of
which can be seen over the unequal ground of the village outskirts and through
a fringe of wind-blown banana trees. On one of the little squares of blue
water thus framed in by dark-green fronds may be seen part of a dau at anchor
with a tall, clumsy^ brown mast, thick rigging, and a hull somewhat gaudily
painted in black and pink. We
are sitting under the broad
verandah of a large house, a
house which is in reality no-
thing but a structure of timber
and lath covered with a thick
coating of black mud ; but the
mud has been so well laid on
and is so smooth, time-worn
and shiny as to have the
appearance of very dark stone.
The roof is of thatch, descend-
ing from some forty feet above
the ground to scarcely more
than five feet over the edge of
the verandah. This verandah
only occupies one. side of the
house and is large enough to
be — what it is — an outer hall
of audience;^ fifteen feet broad and with a raised dais of polished mud on
either side of the passage which crosses the verandah to enter the main
dwelling. As the interior rooms of this house are mostly unfurnished with
windows and only derive their light from the central passage (which has an
open door at either end) they are quite dark inside and even in the daytime
little Arab lamps (earthenware saucers filled with oil and with cotton wicks)
have to be lighted to see one's way about.
^ Called by Zanzilxiris *'baraza."
THE "sultan's BARAZA'
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 23
In front of the house, in the open public square, is a fine cocoanut tree
which has been planted from a cocoanut brought from the East Coast of Africa.
Across the square a ramshackle building is pointed out as the Mosque, and
Arabs of all shades — of negro blackness and of European whiteness — are
walking backwards and forwards through the blazing sunshine to perform their
ablutions in the court of the Mosque, or to enter the building to pray.
The Sultan of the place, in one of whose houses we are tarrying (in
imagination) is about to have his noontide meal, and asks us to join. He
himself is seated on a mattress placed on a mud bench against the wall under
the verandah, and is clothed in a long, white garment reaching down to his heels,
over which he wears a sleeveless, orange-coloured waistcoat richly embroidered
with silver, a shawl-sash wound round his waist, and over one shoulder a light
Indian cloth of chequered pattern brightly fringed. Through the shawl
waistband peep out the hilt and part of the scabbard of one of those ornamental
curved daggers which are worn at Zanzibar and in the Persian Gulf; this hilt
and scabbard are of richly-chased silver.
The Sultan has a face which in some respects is prepossessing. It is
certainly not cruel though he is known to have done many cruel things. The
once fine eyes are somewhat clouded with premature age and the exhaustion of
a polygamist ; but there are a sensitiveness and refinement about the purple-
lipped mouth and well-shaped chin, the outlines of which can be seen through
the thin grey beard. The hands have slender, knotted fingers and the nails are
short and exquisitely kept.
The taking of food is preceded by the washing of hands. Attendants —
who are either black coast Arabs, gorgeously habited in embroidered garments
of black, silver and gold, or else dirty, blear-eyed, negro boys, scarcely clothed
at all and with grey, scurvy skins (the dirtiest and stupidest-looking of these
boys is the Sultan's factotum in the household and carries his keys on a string
round his lean neck) come to us with brass ewers and basins. The ewers are
long-spouted, like coffee pots. Water is poured over our hands, which after
rinsing we dry as best we can on our pocket handkerchiefs, while the Sultan
wipes his on his Indian cloth which is slung over his shoulder and is used
indifferently as napkin and handkerchief. Then a brass platter of large
size, covered with a pyramid of steaming rice, is placed on the dais and
alongside it an earthenware pot (very hot) containing curried chicken. The
Sultan having rolled up a ball of rice between his fingers and dipped it into the
curry, invites us to do the same. Our fingers are scalded by the rice ; but it
must be admitted that the flavour of the curry is excellent. When this course
is finished a bowl of pigeons stewed with lentils is brought on, and this also
is eaten by the aid of our fingers. For drink we have cold, pure water from
an earthenware cooler, and the milk of unripe cocoanuts.
The meal finishes with bananas and roasted ground nuts. Then more
washing of hands and we recline on some dirty cushions or on lion skins, whilst
the Sultan gives audience to messengers, courtiers and new arrivals. Some of
these last-named glance suspiciously at us and are not disposed to be very
communicative about their recent experiences in the presence of Europeans.
The Sultan sees this and enjoys the humour of the situation. He is himself
indifferent to the slave trade, having secured his modest competence years ago
and now caring for nothing more than the friendship of European potentates,
which will enable him to finish his days in peace and tranquillity. After he
is gone he knows that in all probability there will be no other Sultan in his
24 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
place, but a European official. In his heart of hearts, of course, he sees no
harm in the slave trade. He is well aware that he is entertaining at one and
the same time European officials of high standing and five or six powerful
Arab slave dealers, and that his large, rambling metropolis of several square
miles in area harbours simultaneously not only the Europeans and their porters,
servants, and escort, but perhaps three hundred raw slaves from the Ludlaba.
But he is not going to give his compatriots away unless they make fools of
themselves by any attempt to molest the Europeans, in which case, and in
any case if it comes to a choice of sides, he will take the part of the European.
In his dull way this unlettered man, who has read little else than the Koran
and a few Arab books of obscenities, or of fortune- telling, has grasped the fact
that from their own inherent faults and centuries of wrong-doing, Islam and
Arab civilisation must yield the first place to the religion and influence of the
European. He has no prejiSdice against Christianity — on the contrary, perhaps
a greater belief in its supernatural character than some of the Englishmen he
entertains from time to time — but if his inchoate thoughts could be interpreted
in one sentence it would be " Not in our time, O Lord ! " The change must
come but may it come after his death. Meantime he hopes that you will not
drive home too far the logic of your rule. When he is gone the Christian
missionary may come and build there, but while he lasts he prefers to see
nothing but the ramshackle mosques of his own faith and to have his half-
caste children taught in the Arab fashion. He points out some to you who are
sitting in the verandah of an opposite hut, under the shade of a knot of papaw
trees ; a hideous old negroid Arab with a dark skin and pockmarked face is
teaching them to read. Each child has a smooth wooden board with a long
handle, something like a hand-mirror in shape. The surface of this board is
whitened with a thin coating of porcelain clay ; and Arab letters, verses of the
Koran and sentences for parsing are written on it by means of a reed pen
dipped in ink or by a piece of charcoal.
There is a certain pathos about this uneducated old coast Arab who has been
a notable man in his day as conqueror and slave raider but who has had
sufficient appreciation of the value of well-doing not to be always a slave raider,
who has sought to inspire a certain amount of affection among the populations
he enslaved. These in time have come to regard him as their natural
sovereign, though the older generation can remember his first appearance in the
country as an Arab adventurer at the head of a band of slavers. His soldiers,
most of them now recruited from amongst his negro subjects, cheerfully raid the
territories of other chiefs in the interior, but slave raiding within his own especial
kingdom has long since ceased and a certain degree of order and security has
been established. Let us set off against the crimes of his early manhood the
good he has done subsequently by introducing from Zanzibar the cocoanut-
palm, the lime tree, the orange, good white rice, onions, cucumbers and other
useful products of the East ; by sternly repressing cannibalism, abolishing
witchcraft trials, improving the architecture, and teaching many simple arts and
inducing the negroes to clothe their somewhat extravagant nudity in seemly,
tasteful garments.
He has known Livingstone and may even have secured a good word from
that Apostle of Africa for hospitality and for relative humanity, as compared
to other and wickeder Arabs. This casual mention of him in the book of the
great ** Dottori"^ will cause him a childish pleasure if you point it out. " Has
^ The name by which Livingstone is almost universally known in Central Africa.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE
25
the 'Quini' read this book?" he asks. "Yes," you reply. "Then the Queen
has seen my name?" and this reflection apparently causes him much satisfaction,
for he repeats the observation to himself at intervals and even forces it on the
attention of a sullen-looking black-bro\Ved Maskat Arab who is waiting in
the baraza to settle with the Sultan the amount of tribute he must pay for
the passage of his slave and ivory caravan across the territory and over the lake
by means of the Sultan's daus.
I will transport you to the south end of Lake Tanganyika.
In the background to this scene is a fine mountain which, like most Central
African mountains, presents from below the appearance of a cake that has been
MOUNT KAPEMBA, TANGANYIKA
cut and is crumbling. There is first of all the granite wall of undulating out-
line bearing a thin line of trees along its crest. Then half-way down its slope
begins below the bare shining rock walls a ribbed slope of debris, which slope
is covered with luxuriant purple-green forest : the whole estomp^ with a film of
blue atmosphere, which sets it back to its proper place in the distance, so that
if you half close your eyes the general effect of this mountain mass is a greyish
purple.
As if in abrupt contrast to this upreared mass of rocks and trees towering
at)[least 4000 feet into the sky is a slice of bright green swamp, separating the
mountain slopes from the lake water. The foreground to this picture is the
broad estuary of a river at its entrance to Tanganyika. On your right hand
26 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
you have a spit of yellow sand which separates the unruffled mirror of this calm
water from the boisterous waves of the open lake. These are greenish blue
with brown marblings and muddy white crests where they are receiving the
alluvium of the river ; and fierce indigo streaked with blazing white foam where
the lake is open, deep and wind-swept On your left hand the estuary of this
river (where the water is a speckless
mirror of the blue sky and its
cream -white grey-shadowed clouds)
is studded with many green islets of
papyrus and girt with hedges of tall
reeds — the reeds with the white
plumes and pointed dagger leaves
that I have once or twice before
described.
This conjunction of mountain, river,
marsh, estuary, sandspit, open lake
and papyrus tangle brings about such
a congeries of bird life that I have
thought it worth the trouble to bring
you all the way to Tanganyika to
ON TANGANYIKA gaze at this huge aviary. And al-
though on many of these journeys
you are supposed to be looking on the scene with the eye of the spirit
and not of the flesh, and therefore able to see Nature undisturbed by the
presence of man, still on this spot you might stand in actuality, as I have
stood, and, provided you did not fire a gun, see this collection of birds as
though they were enclosed in some vast Zoological Gardens. For some
cause or other has brought the fish down from the upper reaches of the
stream or up from the lake. The water of the estuary is of unruffled
smoothness. Most waterbirds detest the rough waves of the open lake, or
the current of a rapid stream ; even now if you turn your eyes lakewards
the only birds you will see are small grey gulls with black barred faces and
black tipped wings and the large scissor-billed terns (grey and white with
crimson beaks) flying with seeming aimlessness over the troubled waters.
But in the estuary, what an assemblage ! There are pelicans of grey, white
and salmon pink, with yellow pouches, riding the water like swans, replete
with fish and idly floating. Egyptian geese (fawn-coloured, white, and green-
bronze) ; spur winged geese (bronze-green, white shouldered, white flecked, and
red cheeked) ; African teal (coloured much like the English teal) ; a small jet
black pochard with a black crest and yellow eyes ; whistling tree duck (which
are black and white, zebra-barred, and chestnut); other tree ducks (chestnut and
white) ; that huge Sarcidiornis (a monstrous duck with a knobbed beak, a
spurred wing, and a beautiful plumage of white and bronzed-blue with a green-
blue speculum in the secondaries of the wing). All these ducks and geese
hang about the fringe of the reeds and the papyrus. The ducks are diving
for fish, but the geese are more inclined to browse off" the water-weed. Every
now and then there is a disturbance, and the reflexions of the water are broken
by a thousand ripples as the ducks scutter over the surface or the geese rise
with much clamour for a circling flight. Farthest away of all the birds (for
they are always shy) is a long file of rosy flamingoes sifting the water
for small fish and molluscs. Thev are so far off that their movements are
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 27
scarcely perceptible ; against the green background of the marsh they look like
a vast fringe of pale pink azaleas in full blossom.
Small bronze-green cormorants are plunging into the water for fish, diving
and swimming under water, and flying away. Fish-catching on a more modest
scale and quite close to where we stand is being carried on by black and white
Ceryle kingfishers, who with their bodies nearly erect and the head and beak
directed downwards will poise themselves in the air with rapidly fluttering wings
and then dart unerringly head foremost on some tiny fish under the surface of
the \<^ater.
On the sandspit two dainty crowned cranes are pacing the sand and the
scattered wiry grass looking for locusts. Even at this distance — and especially
if you use a glass — you can distinguish the details of their coloration. It
will be seen that they have a short, finely-shaped beak of slatey black, a
large eye of bluish grey, surrounded by a black ring ; and the cheeks covered
with bare porcelain-like skin, pure white, which is much enhanced by an
edging of crimson developing below the throat into two bright crimson
wattles. The head is fitly crowned with a large aigrette of golden filaments,
tipped with black. The neck with its long hackles is dove grey. The back
and the breast are slate colour, the mass of the wing is snow white, and its
huge broadened pinions are reddish chocolate, the white secondaries being
prolonged into a beautiful golden fringe hanging gracefully over the chocolate
quill feathers.
The quacking of the ducks, the loud cries of the geese and the compound
sound of splashings and divings and scuttering flights across the water, are
dominated from time to time by the ear-piercing screams of a fish eagle,
perched on one of the taller poles of a fishing weir. The bird is as full of
fish as he can hold, but yet seems annoyed at the guzzling that is going on
around him, and so relieves his feelings at odd moments by piercing yells. He
is a handsome bird — head and neck and breast snow white, the rest of the
plumage chocolate brown.
Add to the foregoing enumeration of birds stilt plovers of black and white ;
spur-winged plovers with yellow wattles ; curlew ; sandpipers ; crimson-beaked
pratincoles; sacred ibis (pure white and indigo- purple) ; hagedash ibis (irides-
cent-blue, green, and red-bronze) ; gallinules (verditer blue with red beaks) ;
black water-rails with lemon beaks and white pencillings; black coots; other
rails that are blue and green with turned-up white tails ; squacco herons (white
and fawn-coloured) ; large grey herons ; purple-slate-coloured herons ; bluish-
gray egrets ; white egrets ; large egrets with feathery plumes ; small egrets with
snowy bodies and yellow beaks ; Goliath herons (nut-brown and pinkish-grey) ;
small black storks, with open and serrated beaks ; monstrous bare-headed
marabu storks ; and dainty lily-trotters^ (black and white, golden-yellow and
chocolate-brown) ; and you will still only have got half way through the
enumeration of this extraordinary congregation of water birds at the estuary
of the river Lofu, on the south coast of Tanganyika.
Civilisation. — We are going to spend a Sunday at Blantyre, a European
settlement in the Shire Highlands. Except for the name, however, there is no
similarity between the little manufacturing town, which was Livingstone's birth-
place, and the chief focus of European interests here in South Central Africa.
These are the characteristics of the African Blantyre on a bright Sunday
^ Parra Africana,
28 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
morning in May: — A glorious blue sky; floods of sunshine; a cool breeze and
a sparkling freshness in the atmosphere which reminds one of Capetown ; clean
red roads, neat brick houses, purple mountains, and much greenery.
The organ is giving forth a hymn of Mendelssohn's by way of introit as we
enter the church, and as, simultaneously, the choir and clergy take their places.
The Norman architecture of the interior, the stained glass windows, the
embroidered altar cloths, the brass lecterns and their eagles, the carved altar
rails, the oak pulpit, the well-appointed seats with scarlet cushions — even the
sunlight checked in its exuberance by passing through the diamond panes
of the tinted windows — produce an effect on the newcomer of absolute astonish-
ment. He requires to fix his eyes on the black choir in their scarlet and white
vestments to realise that he is in Africa and not in Edinburgh or Regent's Park.
The congregation consists mainly of Europeans and the service is in English.
{The natives will assemble at other hours when worship is conducted in their
own language.] A short service with good music, well sung by the black choir,
and a quarter of an hour's sermon: then we are out once more in the sunny
square, in a temperature not hotter than a mild summer's day at home,
exchanging greetings with many acquaintances, almost all of whom are habited
in such clothes as they would wear on a Sunday in Scotland. Some of the men
turn out in black coats, light trousers, top hats, patent leather boots, white spats
and brown gloves ; and the ladies are wearing silk blouses and cloth skirts, with
all the furbelows and puffs and pinchings and swellings which were the height
of the fashion in London not more than four months ago, for there is an
almost pathetic desire on the part of the Blantyre settlers to keep in touch
with civilisation.^
In the bare, open space which so fittingly surrounds this handsome church,
groups of mission boys are standing, respectably clothed in not badly-fitting
European garments and wearing black felt hats. They are conversing in low
tones, a little afraid of having their remarks overheard by the critical Europeans.
They have a slight tendency to giggle, of which they are conscious and some-
what ashamed. A long file of mission girls, modestly and becomingly clad in
scarlet and white, crosses the square to the native quarters of the mission under
the guidance of a lady in dove-grey with a black bonnet and a grass-green
parasol. By way of quaint contrast to these reclaimed guardians of the flock
is the aboriginal wolf in the persons of some Angoni carriers who, forgetting or
ignoring that Sunday was a day of rest with the European, are bringing up
loads from the Upper Shire. Stark naked, all but a tiny square of hide or
a kilt of tiger-cat tails, with supple, lithe bodies of glistening chocolate (shiny
with perspiration), with the hair of their heads screwed up into curious little
tufts by means of straw, they glide past the church with their burdens, alter-
nately shy and inquisitive — ready to drop the burden and dart away if a
European should address them roughly; on the other hand gazing with all their
eyes at the wonderfully dressed white w^omen, and the obviously powerful
" wafumo " 2 amongst the white men. A smartly-uniformed negro policeman in
yellow khaki and black fez hurries them off the scene, shocked at their nudity,
which was his own condition a year ago.
A good-looking Sikh soldier — over on a day's leave from the neighbouring
garrison, or else accompanying some official as orderly — loiters respectfully on
the fringe of the European crowd. He is in undress and wears a huge blush-
rose turban, a loose snow-white shirt, a fawn-coloured waistcoat, white paijamas
^ Blantyre in fact is like an Indian Hill Station. - Chiefs.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 29
(baggy over the hips but tight-fitting round the calves) and pointed Persian
shoes of crimson leather. His long, black beard has been rolled up after the
fashion of the Sikhs, so that it makes a tidy fringe round the jaws from ear to
ear ; and the black moustache is fiercely curled.
We walk away home over a smooth road that is vinous-red, as all the earth
is hereabout. First there is an avenue of sombre cypresses mixed with
shimmering eucalyptus ; then the road will be bordered by bananas or by the
gardens of Europeans' houses, with neat fences. In all directions other roads
branch off, and above the greenery of Indian corn patches, of banana-groves,^
of plantations of conifers, acacias, and eucalyptus, or clumps of Misuko trees,
can be seen the house-roofs of grey corrugated iron, or rose-pink, where that
iron has been coloured with anti-corrosive paint.
Bright moonlight. In a Hyphaene palm forest. Out of the shadow of the
trees it is almost as bright as day, every detail can be seen in the dry grass —
even the colours of some few flowers blooming in spite of the dry weather.
The effect is that of a photograph — a little too much devoid of half-tones, being
sharply divided into bright lights, full of minute detail and deep grey shadows,,
like blots, in which no detail can be descried. It is clear that this forest lies far
from the haunts of man, for all the palm stems still retain the jagged stems of
withered fronds. This gives them an untidy and forbidding aspect ; for these
grey mid-ribs stick out at an angle of forty degrees from the main trunk. The
faded leaf filaments have long since disappeared from the extremities of the
dead fronds which themselves are so dry and so lightly attached to the stem
that a few blows from a stout pole would knock them off and the palm trunk
would be left bare and smooth. This is the condition of almost all palms near
a native village in Africa because the natives climb them for the fruit, or more
often for the sap which they tap at the summit and make into a fermented
drink. Therefore whenever in tropical Africa you find palms in a forest
retaining their old fronds from the ground upwards you may know that
indigenous man is nowhere near.
Each palm is surmounted by a graceful crown of fan-shaped leaves in an
almost symmetrical oval mass, radiating from the summit as from a centre.
The fruit which is clustered thickly on racemes is — seen by daylight — a bright
chestnut brown and the size of a Jaffa orange. This brown husk covering an
ivory nut is faintly sweet to the taste and is adored by elephants. It is on that
account that I have brought you here to see with the eye of the spirit a herd
of these survivors of past geological epochs.
Somehow or other, it seems more fitting that we should see the wild elephant
by moonlight at the present day. He is like a ghost revisiting the glimpses of
the moon — this huge grey bulk, wrinkled even in babyhood, with his monstrous
nose, his monstrous ears and his extravagant incisor teeth.
There! I have hypnotised you, and having suggested the idea of "elephants"
you declare that you really begin to see huge forms assuming definite outline
and chiaro-scuro from out of the shadows of the palms. Now you hear the
noise they make — an occasional reverberating rattle through the proboscis as
they examine objects on the ground half seriously, half playfully ; and the
swishing they make as they pass through the herbage ; or the rustle of branches
which are being plucked to be eaten. But they are chiefly bent on the ginger-
bread nuts of the palms and to attain this, where they hang out of reach, they
will pause occasionally to butt the palm trees with their flattened foreheads.
30 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The dried stems and the dead fronds crash down before this jarring blow. If
the fruit does not fall and the tree is not tilted over at an angle [its crown within
reach of the animal's trunk], then the great beast will either strive to drag it
down with his proboscis or to kneel and uproot it with his tusks The elephants
pause every now and then in their feasting, the mothers to suckle the little ones
from the two great paps between the fore-legs, a huge bull to caress a young
female amorously with his twining trun<c, or the childless cows to make
semblance of fighting, and the half-grown young to chase each other with shrill
trumpetings.
But the moon is dropping over to the west. You did not think the moon-
light could be exceeded in brightness. Yet in the advent of d^y it is only after
all a betterment of night. Before the first pale pink light of early dawn the
moonlight seems an unreality. In a few minutes the moon is no more luminous
than a round of dirty paper and with the yellow radiance of day the elephants
cease their gambollings and feasting, form into line, and swing into one of those
long marches which will carry them over sixty miles of forest, plain and
mountain to the next halting place in their seeming-purposeful journey.
There has been a war. The black man trained and taught by the Arab has
been fighting the black man officered and directed by the European and, not
unnaturally, has got the worst of it. But the fight has been a stiff one. We
have had to take that walled town in the red plain, behind which are gleams of
water and stretches of green swamp interspersed with clumps of raphia palms.
There has been the preliminary bombardment, the straw huts within the red
walls have gone up in orange flame and mighty columns of smoke [transparent
black and opaque yellow according to the material burning] into the heavens
above and are now falling in a gentle rain of black wisps. Here and there
a barrel of gunpowder has exploded, or the bursting of a shell has elicited
a terrible cry from an otherwise stolid, silent enemy. Then there has been the
first charge up to the clay walls and the inevitable casualties from the enemy's
fusillade directed through the loop-holes. A white officer has fallen forward on
hi3 face, revolver in hand, biting the dust literally. He is not dead, he announces
cheerfully, " Only my arm smashed, I think " ; but a Sikh who is attempting to
arrange for his transport to the doctor out of the range of the enemy's fire, is
shot through the heart, and with the last dying instinct swerves his fall to avoid
falling on the officer's shattered arm. The bulk of the small force of white
men, Sikhs, and negro soldiers in khaki uniforms and black fezzes, has either
scaled the clay rampart or has shattered a gateway and burst into the strong-
hold, and the officer can now swoon away comfortably without much risk of
dying, as the doctor can be seen in the distance hurrying up his little band
of native hospital assistants and a couple of hammocks for the transport
of wounded men. A tremendous rattle of musketry is going on. The native
guns go off seldom now, but make a loud reverberating boom from the quantity
of powder with which they are charged ; the Snider rifles, on the other hand,
give short cracks. From some of the unburnt housetops in the more distant
part of the town the enemy is still keeping up a dropping fire, and in fact as we
stand in imagination over the wounded officer we can hear overhead that curious
*' ping," that singing sound of bullets travelling high above our heads. We are
not out of but under the enemy's range. Gradually the gun fire ceases, though
every now and then a few more cracking shots will be heard, until the victory is
complete and absolute, and the place is wholly taken.
WHAT THE COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE 31
When there is no longer any doubt about the result the native allies, who
have hung on the outskirt3 of the white man's camp, dash forward in skirmish-
ing order to cut off the fugitives. They are a motley crowd, these " friendlies,"
armed with flint-locks, muzzle-loading guns, old pistols, or with spear and
assegai, bow and arrow. It would be difficult to tell them from the opposing
force — for the auxiliaries of the Arab are often own brothers to the white man's
helpers — but that each " friendly " has a large piece of white cloth tied round
the upper part of his left arm. The chief efforts of the Europeans and the
Sikhs are now directed towards restraining these inconvenient allies who would
seek to perpetrate on the flying enemy, or on his wounded, the same barbarities
that the Arabs and their followers recently inflicted on the tribes allied with the
European — which barbarities are the cause of the white man's presence here
to-day with a country at his back to help him.
War is always horrible, even if it be waged in a righteous cause, and
nowhere so horrible as in savage Africa. Let us, as a useful lesson, pick our
way through this bombarded town as far as the heat of the still burning houses
will permit. Here amongst the black ashes of a hut is a poor, domestic cat
frizzled into a ghastly mummy and close to her are numerous broiled rats : all
alike were unable to escape in time from the burning building. High above
our heads— for some reason I think the saddest sight of all — are the homeless
pigeons, circling round and round unable to settle on the burning roof trees,
dazed and stupefied with the smoke and occasionally falling down into the
flames to die. Shrieking fowls are flying in all directions and after them
excited *' friendlies " or porters of the expedition in pursuit, heedless of the hot
ashes under foot. Our first dead body : a negro soldier of the Administration,
neatly clad, spick and span in spite of his scramble over the eight-foot wall.
Soon after entering the town he must have been shot dead and he has fallen
on his back still grasping his rifle and, strange to say, with a faint smile of
triumph and no look of pain whatever on the face. A little distance beyond
him lies a wretched savage who has boen killed by a shell. His stomach has
been torn out and his head split in two. Here and there a black arm or leg
or a dead face with wide-open eyes may be descried amongst the debris of the
huts, indicating the presence of others who have fallen in the fight. The doctor
will presently come and search the shattered huts in case there may be any
wounded and living requiring attention.
We have now reached the centremost stronghold of the town, and it is seen
that great as the conflagration appeared from the outside it has destroyed
but a small portion of the town. The Sikhs are now busily engaged in
isolating the burning huts and putting out the fire. The officers have been
examining the large houses around the Sultan's compound and have brought
to light an extraordinary number of wretched women and children most of
them slaves — the adults both men and women — still weighted with the slave
stick. ^
Many of these slaves are entirely naked and utterly barbarous, and all are
whimpering, not with joy at the prospect of freedom but in the imminent dread
that they will be immediately killed and eaten by the white men, that being the
idea implanted in their minds by the Arab. A little apart from the great mass
* The slave slick is usually a young tree of heavy wood barked and all the branches removed with
the exception of a bifurcation at the end. Into this bifurcation the slave's neck is thrust and the two ends
of the stick are united by an iron band at the back of his neck so that this heavy log is attached to the
front of the man's body. In this condition he is quite unable to run away.
32
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
of still fettered slaves is an Arab prisoner, his hands tied behind his back,
kneeling or reclining with his ankles also fastened. There is a slight wound on
his forehead; his face bears the expression of a caged wolf, his pale yellow skin
is livid with pain, fear, and hatred. He has lost his round, white cap or fez,
or turban, and his bald head looks mean and out of keeping with his careful
clothes, which though soiled in warfare are still' neat and presentable. Round
his neck in a dirty cloth bag hangs a copy of the Koran.
From such a scene as this I walked away once over the battlefield. The
fight was ended, but we were only just starting to look for the wounded. It was
early afternoon; a lovely day, bright sunshine, pale blue sky. A cool breeze
had blown away the smoke; apart from the scene of the chief struggle in the
captured town there was no indication that war w^as being waged. In a secluded
part of the precincts amid the scattered vegetation of the village outskirts
I suddenly came across the body of a fine-looking Angoni, not many minutes
dead. He might have been fighting on our side; he might have been hired by
the Arabs as one of their raiders, but someone had killed him with a bullet
through the head and he had fallen in his tracks, in all his panoply of war,
scarcely conscious of the object for which he fought. His right hand still
grasped the stabbing spear, his left still held the ox-hide shield. His throw-
ing spears had flown from his hand and were scattered on the ground.
Grimmest sight of all — four vultures had already arrived on the' scene to
examine him. Two birds promenaded up and down with a watchful eye,
ready on noting any sign of returning consciousness to take their departure;
another bird, somewhat bolder, stood on one leg and inspected him as might
a thoughtful surgeon; and the fourth whirled in circles on out-spread pinions
round the body, wishing to settle but frightened, in case after all it was a swoon
and not a death.
NIAMKOLO: SOUTH END OF TANGANYIKA
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
IN looking through the pictures I have tried to paint in the preceding
chapter to illustrate the scenery of British Central Africa, it will be noticed
that I have made no mention of any desert, of any open sandy tract or
stony region devoid of vegetation. The fact is that so far as my own researches
and those of other explorers go, British Central Africa, east of the Kafue river,
holds no desert, no stretch of country that is not more or less covered with
abundant vegetation. Here
and there on the line of
water parting between the
river systems there may be a
little harsh scenery where the
trees are poor and scrubby and
the plants grow in scattered
tufts. But, take it as a whole,
the eastern half of British
Central- Africa is very well
clothed with vegetation, es-
pecially in the Nyasa province.
There is nowhere any large
continuous area of thick tropi-
cal forest such as one sees
in Western Africa, but in
favoured districts where the
soil is permeated with many
springs there may be an
occasional patch of woodland
quite West African in char-
acter, and not only containing
oil palms, of the genus Elms
(which are usually thought to
be peculiarly characteristic of
West Africa), but also not
a few birds and mammals
hitherto considered to be con-
fined in their range to the
West African region. From
this and other facts, I am
sometimes led to believe that
FOREST ON MOUNT CHOLO, BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
36
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the whole of Africa was once covered with more or less dense forest, but that
the climate in the eastern half of the continent being drier than in the west,
the ravages of the bush fires started by man have made greater headway
than the reparatory influence of nature. Only in specially favoured tracts
enjoying exceptional rainfall or else provided with underground springs could
the forest remain always green and full of sap all the year round, and thus be
able to choke out the fire or, in the wet season, to make sufficient growth
to repair the ravages sustained by bush fires.
We have therefore a well clothed country to deal with ; but our abundant
vegetation is undoubtedly the cause of malarial fever. The essentially healthy
THK MLANJE RAN(;E, SEEN FROM ZOMBA AFTER RAINFALL
portions of tropical Africa are those like Somaliland, much of the Sudan, a good
deal of East Africa and all South West Africa, where the rainfall is trifling and
vegetation is mainly confined to the banks of rivers.
From observations made and records kept by various officials throughout
the Protectorate proper and the adjoining regions under the sway of the British
South Africa Company I should compute the average rainfall of the greater
part of British Central Africa at 50 inches per annum. But this average
fluctuates somewhat (according to the remembrances of white men longest
in the country and the traditions of the natives) ; and I should say that the
rainfall ranged from 35 inches in years of extreme drought to 60 inches in years
of excessive rainfall. There arc certainly traces of a larger rainfall having once
prevailed in these countries in past ages. In travelling about British Central
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
37
Africa one is constantly encountering marshes which even in native tradition (to
say nothing of the geographical evidence) were once large lakes. Again, there
are fertile depressions which are no longer marshes. Dry stream valleys mark
the courses of once powerful torrents. This tendency towards decreased
rainfall is undoubtedly due, in my opinion, to the action of man. It is scarcely
exaggeration to say that had British Central Africa been left for another couple
of hundred years simply aqd solely to the black man and the black man had
continued to exist without thought for the future as he does at present, this
country would have become treeless, as many portions of it were becoming
when we embarked on its administration. Livingstone describes in his Last
Journals the process that is going on in Manyema, to the west of Tanganyika, a
country once covered with the densest forest. The natives make clearings for
NATIVE CLEARING IN FOREST COUNTRY
their plantations. They cut down the trees, leave them to dry and then set fire
to them and sow their crops amongst the fertilising ashes. The same type of
forest never grows up again. It is replaced by grass or by a growth of scrubby
trees — trees of a kind which can to a greater extent resist the annual scorching
of the bush fires. Besides this wanton destruction of forest for the growing of
food crops (and as a rule the native merely grows one crop of corn and then
moves off to another patch of virgin soil, leaving the old plantation to be
covered with grass and weeds) the annual bush fires play a considerable and (if
unchecked) an increasing part in the disforesting of the country. Even where
large continuous areas of dense forest remain, so evergreen and full of sap as
not to burn easily, each year the raging fire will sere and dry and kill those trees
which are on the forest outskirts. The next year these dead trees are consumed
by the fire which again dries up and kills another rank ; so year by year the
forest diminishes in area to extinction, unless protected by happening to grow in
38
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
a deep valley with abrupt cliffs ; though this condition of course restricts its
area of growth.
Still, although we must, I think, admit a certain diminution in rainfall owing
to the decrease of forest or other causes, the rate at which this decrease is going
on has been exaggerated, and as we come to know the country better and our
records grow with years of occupation, we see that there are signs of cycles of
greater and less rain dependent on atmospheric conditions which we have not yet
realised. The marks on the rocks show that during some ages there has been a
slight — but a very slight — fall in Lake Nyasa, varied by periods of extraordinar>'
diminution as for instance some seventy years ago when according to the natives'
traditions the north end of the lake became so shallow between Deep Bay
and Amelia Bay that a chief and his men waded across where it is now many
fathoms deep. The highest watermark on these polished rocks is perhaps at
most six feet above the present high levels of the lake in good rainy seasons.
In years of relative drought I^ke Nyasa may be as much as six feet below its
best rainy season average. This means, of course, that instead of there being
nine feet of water on the bar of the Shire where that river quits the lake there
are only three feet ; consequently the navigability of the Shire in the dry
season becomes much embarrassed and in these bad years it can only be
navigated all the year round
by vessels not drawing more
than one and a half feet.
Yet we know that in the later
" fifties " and early ** sixties "
Livingstone constantly travelled
up and down the Shire on a
vessel drawing five feet. Even
in the year 1889 the James
Steifcnson which draws about
three feet of water was able to
navigate the Shire through al-
most all the year up to the
Murchison falls, while vessels
of five feet draught have in like
manner navigated the Upper
Shire above the falls. But from
1 891 till 1896 the Shire fell
lower and lower until at last
not even Chiromo was the limit
of navigation from the sea,
but the Pinda rapids near the
Zambezi, while the Upper Shire
was practically divided into a
few navigable stretches with
very shallow water in between.
But after the rainy season of
1895-96 Lake Nyasa rose to a
height which had not been
reached for many years and is apparently still continuing to rise. The result is
that the Lower Shire is now as navigable as it was in Livingstone's day, while
on the Upper Shire many of our low-lying stations are threatened by the flood
THE SHIRE AT CHIKWAWA
JUST BELOW THE MURCHISON FAILS
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
39
Similar fluctuations are recorded of Tanganyika ; while in the case of
Bangweolo and Mweru fluctuations of level would also seem to occur in cycles.
The differences between Livingstone's map of Bangweolo and the map made by
Giraud, the observations of Mr. Joseph Thomson, Mr. Alfred Sharpe, and
Mr. Poulett Weatherley of the same lake may all be reconciled by this theory
of a few feet fluctuation in its rise and fall. A few feet, more or less, would
make the vast lake of M. Giraud the *' restricted open water " of Livingstone, and
the wide marsh with a few open pools conjectured by Sharpe and Thomson.^
Of course the average rainfall I have quoted must not be taken as the
rainfall of each part of British Central Africa. So far as our observations
go some districts receive no more than 35 inches per annum.^ These again,
especially if they contain mountains of great height like Mlanje, may record
a rainfall exceeding 100 inches. A rainfall of 60 inches is common.
PINDA NfOUNTAIN AND PINDA MARSH, LOWER SHIRE
In consequence .of this fairly good supply of rain the country is well watered
by perennial streams and rivers. At the extreme end of the dry season there
are streams which dry up though water can almost always be found a short
distance below the surface. Still compared to other parts of East Central
Africa the bulk of our rivers and rivulets may be described as perennial, that is
to say containing running water all the year round. This is not suprising as so
much of the country is mountainous and in these highlands the rain is spread a
little less unequally over the area. It may safely be said that above altitudes
of 4000 feet (and a large proportion of the land is above 4000 feet) no month
passes without a fall of rain. Even at Zomba where the altitude is only 3000
feet it is a rare occurrence for no rain to fall in any given month.
But the year is clearly divided into seasons of rain and drought. The
rainy season generally begins at the end of the month of November and heavy
rains fall in December. There is often a short lull about Christmas time, but
* Since this passage was penned Mr. Poulett Weatherley, the explorer and sportsman, has thoroughly
circumnavigated and mapped it. His observations concur rather with those of Livingstone than of Giraud.
• A small patch at the south end of Lake Nyasa in one year only received 26*62 inches of rain.
40
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
early in January the rains recommence and become torrential, continuing to fall
very heavily until the end of March. April is a delightful month as it is in
Europe, of alternate showers and sunshine. A little rain falls in May and an
occasional shower in June. July is the height of the winter — cold, dry, spark-
ling— but is never without a few drops of rain. In August there will sometimes
be a week's rain of a decided character, especially in the highlands. A shower
PART OF THE FALLS OF THE RUG AT ZOA
or two will follow in September. October is quite the driest month and in low-
lands passes without a drop of rain, though in the highlands there may be an
occasional thunder storm. Towards the close of November (the first half being
terribly hot and dry) the big rains recommence.
As regards temperature there is considerable variation also dependent on
altitude. In the valley of the Shire, on the south coast of Lake Nyasa, in the
great Luangwa Valley and on the Central Zambezi, the heat is frightful just
I J SS to 4S iTichet
l^^^l ih to f>0
|^meotoT5
^^^^H Over
A Red Lviif thus.
of Ripert^ or tTtdonin^ an area of Latft.
mdicatrt the LixniU fyf Kttvi^abHitjt aU thf
yt^ar ruund /trr vt^seis drawing ^ f^«t of
vmt^r. I
'-A dotted Ited Litif thtit-^^m^m^mindicatet eo-mi •
(fling during the height 0/ the ravny t^agmi, I
Hit £diii}iur||L Gflo^BjjIiLr-Al lojUtxitf
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
41
before the rains, registering occasionally temperatures as high as 118'' in the
shade, though at night time falling to 85^ thus rendering it possible to live. In
the height of the rainy season the range of the thermometer is not so high, but
the heat is often more unbearable owing to its greater uniformity and the moist-
ness of the temperature. In the months of January, February, and March the
thermometer may be 100** in the daytime and only fall to 85° or 90** at night.
A MOUNTAIN STREAM IN CENTRAL AFRICA
But on the high plateaux and amongst the mountains — and these high districts
after all represent the bulk of our territory — the temperature is at all times
much more tolerable. Such a place as Zomba^ for instance may be taken as a
fair sample of the British Central Africa climate. Here during the cold season
from May till September we have a day temperature not exceeding 75" and
a night temperature ranging from 40" to 60°. In the months of September,
^ Altitude 3000 feet above the sea.
42 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
October, November the day temperature may rise to 98'' and fall at night to 65 ^
During the height of the rainy season the day temperature ranges from 75" to
95" and the night from 65^ to 80".
In the rainy season the wind usually blows from a northerly direction and is
what one may call a benign wind, being warm and wet. During the dry season
the curbed south-easter prevails. This hated wind comes up from the South Pole
and is cold and dry. It is the equivalent of our east wind in England and
produces much the same effects on health when it blows strongly. In the
excessively dry months of September, October, and November this wind blow-
ing across large areas of burnt plain — where the bush fires have destroyed the
vegetation and the sun has baked the soil — has a bad effect on cultivated crops.
It seres the leaves and causes many delicate plants to wither. Happily it soon
loses its effect by passing over the mountains which are always attended by
watery vapour. When the south wind prevails there is a curious mistiness in
the atmosphere. This is partly caused by the diffused smoke of the bush fires,
but it is also due to some other causes not yet explained. At this time of the
year mists often prevail to a striking extent in the early morning. These are
similar to the " smokes " which are so marked a feature in the dry season on the
FIRST VIEW OF MLANJE MOUNTAIN FROM LOWER SHIRE
West Coast of Africa. One understands how these dense fogs occur on any
large river or lake, for instance. The temperature of the water is much higher
than that of the air in the early morning, and so one may see clouds and vapour
rising from "the water surface, just as though it were boiling, and these gradually
form low dense fogs which, minus the addition of smoke, are quite as thick as
those we are accustomed to in the Thames Valley, which no doubt arise from
the same cause.
One of the accompanying maps will give some idea of the distribution of
the rainfall, and the names, length, and navigability of the more important
streams. It might be mentioned that almost all the streams given in this map
are perennial as far as our knowledge of them goes. Another map gives the
relative height of the land and the names and altitudes of the principal
mountain ranges. Only a few of these latter require special mention. So far
as we yet know the highest mountain in British Central Africa is Mlanje, at its
extreme south-eastern corner. Mlanje consists of a huge plateau from which
again rise mountain peaks representing ancient volcanoes. It reaches at its
highest point an altitude of 9683 feet. The summit was scaled by Mr Sharpe
and Captain Manning in 1895. Much of the up-reared mass, which is about
200 square miles in area, exceeds an altitude of 6000 feet and is eminently
habitable. The Shire Highlands — or the district between the Ruo, the Shire
ON Till-: TIMER Rl'(^
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 45
and Lake Chilwa— are a mass of beautiful hills ranging from 3000 feet to
nearly 7000 feet in height. The highest mountain in the Shire Highlands
is Mount Zomba. This is a smaller mass than Mlanje but very similar to it
in shape and arrangement. Like Mlanje it is a large plateau but its higher
peaks are rather the up-reared edges of the plateau (like the rim of a dish)
than independent cones that rise from the centre. The highest point of
Zomba is computed to attain an altitude of 6900 odd feet. It may turn out
on more careful investigation to actually reach 7000 feet. In Southern
Angoniland, in the south-western portion of the Protectorate, Mount Dedza
is computed at 7000 feet and other high mountains like Chongoni are not far
off in altitude. In the mountains to the west of Lake Nyasa the higher peaks
of the lofty Nyika plateau reach to over 8000 feet in height. The average
altitude of the Nyika plateau is 7000 feet. One or two points on the Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau may touch 7000 feet and likewise in the northern part
of the Muchinga (Lukinga) mountains west of the river Luangwa. Elsewhere
THE MLANJE RANC.E FROM THE TUCHILA PLAIN
in British Central Africa, in the basin of the Kafue and Lunsefwa rivers, and
to the west of Lake Bangweolo there is probably no greater altitude than
6000 feet.
Although they are not in British territory and therefore not within the
scope of this book, a passing mention should be made of the Livingstone
Mountains which border the north-east coast of Lake Nyasa and extend
under various names to the south end of Lake Rukwa. They reach to
altitudes which possibly slightly exceed that of Mlanje and come very near
to 10,000 feet.
This is pre-eminently a country of great lakes. Lake Tanganyika is over 400
miles in length with a breadth varying from 60 to 30 miles. Lake Nyasa is 360
miles long with a greatest breadth of 40 miles and a least breadth of 15. Lake
Bangweolo^ is of such uncertain area that it is useless to give any guess at the
* The name of Bangweolo is quite unknown to the natives, and must have l)een given by
Livingstone under some misapprehension. By the surrounding peoples it is known as " Lieml)a," or
" M\*eru," or "Nyanja": more often as **Mweru." Mr. Alfred Shari)e conjectures that the name
'* Bangweolo" may have arisen from the combination of " Pa-mweru ' or " Pa-mwelu "' (*'r'* and
**l** are interchangeable in most African dialects) meaning "at Mweru." The natives are very much
addicted to prefixing the locative prefix "Pa" to names of places. In the same way Livingstone
46
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
mileage of its open surface but it must contain at least 1500 square miles of
navigable water. Lake Mweru is about 68 miles long by 24 broad. Lake
Chilwa in the extreme south-east is also of varying extent according to the
rainy season or dry season ; but it is as a rule about 50 miles long by 1 5
broad. The salt lake Mweru which lies between the great Mweru Lake and
Tanganyika is chiefly a marsh with a few open pools about 35 miles long
by 20 broad. North of Lake Chilwa and separated from it by only a few
miles of sandy ridge is Lake Chiuta, the source of the river Lujenda.
Chiuta is about 40 miles long with a breadth which nowhere exceeds eight
miles and sometimes shrinks to two. In the Lubisa country to the west of the
CHAMBI PKAK, MLANJK
Luangwa there is a small mountain lakelet about 40 square miles in area, which
was called Lake Moir by its discoverer, Mr. Joseph Thomson. Lastly, may be
mentioned Lake Malombe through which the Upper, Shire flows. This lake had
an area in 1893 of about 100 square miles ; but in 1894 and in the succeeding
years a large sand island grew up in the centre which became covered with reeds,
and the lake as I last saw it was little more than a broad channel of the Shire
divided by an enormous, flat, reed-covered island from a narrower channel or
back-water to the west. There is every sign that in spite of the great rise in
Lake Nyasa this island will hold its own. We shall then witness the remarkable
himself called the lakelet Malombe, *' Pa-Mal.jmbe." The root " -<•///," or '' -<?/«," is a very old
Bantu word for '*open water.*' With a different prefix it reappears far to the North as '* Rueru,"
one of the native names of the Albert Nyanza. It would seem to be connected wirh the root
*' white." It might be mentioned, however, that Mr. Poulett VVeaiherley appears lo have heard the name
** Bangweulu " in use.
rEIES
^
^.I G BfcJliirilircne^
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 47
fact that in a little more than a year a lake which has existed beyond the
memory of man has suddenly been resolved into a sandy marsh and a broad
river channel.
I think I have enumerated all the known permanent lakes of the country,
though I should not be surprised if travellers who read this book came forward
and said, " You have forgotten such and such a lake in the Chambezi Valley, or
the small lakelet between Chilwa and Mlanje, or the great sheet of open water
on the Upper Tuchila, or such and such a lake in the Luangwa Basin." None
of these sheets of water, however, as far as is yet known; have any permanent
existence. They are only the creation of the rainy season floods. . Seen at that
time, of course, their existence is recorded ; in the dry season they would be
found either not to exist at all or to be confined to a patch of marsh. There
were lakes at one time, undoubtedly, near the junction of the Ruo and the Shire
(the Elephant Marsh) and at the junction of the Shire and Zambezi (Morambala
Marsh) ; but in the course of time the alluvium of the rivers, together, even,
THE LIKUBULA (JORGE, MLANJE
with a slight upheaval of the ground, or more probably still the deeper cutting
of the river-channel have turned these former lakes into marshes or vast extents
of dry alluvial soil. In like manner Nyasa was evidently united not many
centuries ago with Lake Malombe ; and it may be, also, that Lake Chilwa was
joined with Lake Chiuta and was then the head waters of the great Lujenda-
Ruvuma river. Much of the decrease in volume of the great lakes must be
attributed to a slow and slight process of upheaval which has caused their
waters to more rapidly drain away ; but the disappearance of these shallow lakes
along the courses of the rivers is chiefly due to the rivers having in course of
time cut their channels deeper, so that the lakes which formerly represented
their overflow have their bottoms now removed even above flood limit.
The geology of British Central Africa would appear to be relatively simple.
The commonest formation, perhaps, is a mixture of metamorphic rocks,
grauwacke, clay -slates, gneiss and schists. This prevails over much of the
country lying between the west of Lake Nyasa and the Luapula River, on the
Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, in parts of the Shire Highlands, and north of the
Zambezi. The valleys of the great and sluggish rivers, however, (the Shire,
48
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the Chambezi, the Luangwa) contain an upper stratum of alluvial deposit where
the valleys are broad and the rocks do not strike through. The principal
mountain ranges are mostly granite ; and granite with its upper layers often
rotten and even turned into red ferruginous clay constitutes the formation of
much of the Shire Highlands. There is an outcrop of sandstone on the north-
west and north-east coasts of Lake Nyasa (Mount Waller and the hills of
Amelia Bay are examples) ; a little way back from the lake shore at the north
end (in German territory) ; to the west of the River Shire near the Portuguese
frontier ; at the south end of Tanganyika ; and all round about Lake Mweru
and in the countries adjoining the River Luapula. Volcanic lavas and tuffs are
present on parts of the upper plateau of Mlanje and at the north end of Lake
ON LAKE NYASA
N)'asa. There is a good deal of quartz in the mountains to the west of Lake
Nyasa, especially to the south-west, and in parts of the Shire Highlands (such
as Mlanje). The low flat hills in the Upper Shire district are composed of
marble which yields a very good building lime. Much the same lime is also
obtained from places on the west coast of Lake Nyasa, where there must be
likewise a kind of limestone amongst the low hills near the lake shore. The
surface of much of the low-lying country on the banks of the Upper Shire is
little else than a deposit of the shells of molluscs mixed with black vegetable
earth.
This black " cotton " soil, which is usually extremely rich for cultivation, and
is so much valued in India, is found plentifully in many stream valleys and
depressions, especially in the Nyasaland provinces, and is classed by me as
alluvium.
On the east coast of Lake Nyasa, a few miles inland from Msumbo and
Chisanga (Stations of the Universities Mission), a soap stone has been found by
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
49
Commander Cullen, R.N.R.,^ who had noticed that the natives made use of this
stone in building the mission church at Chisanga. This soap stone, according to
Commander Cullen, is the same as that found in parts of Europe and used as a
lubricant packing by engineers. When prepared for this purpose it is worth £S
a ton. It is qaite easily worked, can be cut with a knife, and is not much — if at
all — affected by weather.
In the sandstone formation of the West Shire district and round the northern
half of Lake Nyasa, coal is found. On the surface it is a little shaley, but there
THE LICHENYA RIVER, MLANJE
is evidence that good combustible coal lies underneath. In the Marimba and
Central Angoniland districts, also in the mountains of the West Nyasa coast
region, and in parts of the Shire Highlands, a gold-bearing quartz exists.-
Alluvial gold is reported to exist on the Northern Angoni plateau, in the West
Nyasa district, and at the head-waters of the River Bua (Central Angoniland),
just within the Protectorate. In the valleys of the rivers flowing south to the
Zambezi (in Mpezeni's country) gold really does exist, and was worked at
Misale by the half-caste Portuguese in the last, and in part of the present
century. Although there are many reports that payable gold has been found in
^ Senior Naval Officer in the service of the B.C. A. Administration.
^ Between Nkata Bay and Sisya. The reef here is said to liave slate walls.
5°
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the rock, which only needs the requisite machinery to crush out, at anything
from lO dwts. to i oz. per ton, no conclusive evidence has yet been offered to
support these statements by specimens which can be submitted to analysis. In
1889, however, long before Europeans turned their eyes in this direction, the old
Jumbe of Kotakota told me that the quartz in his country contained gold, and
THE SHIRE HIGHLANDS
soon afterwards he entered into an agreement with the African Lakes Company
that this gold should be worked. The Lakes Company turned over their
agreement to the British South Africa Company, on whose account prospectors
have entered the Marimba district.
Specimens of something very like cinnabar were once submitted to Mr.
Sharpe and myself for examination. They came from the country to the west
of the Lower Shire. We attempted an analysis but although there seemed to
be traces of mercury in the pan we could not authoritatively state that the
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 51
substance was cinnabar. Since that time no further specimens have reached us.
It is beyond dispute that the country of Katanga is rich in copper and also
possesses gold. The copper of Katanga, however, is widely spread in a currency
of ingots over South Central Africa. Malachite also comes from that region.
There is no reason why this copper should not also be found in the same
formation to the east of the river Luapula and Lake Mweru.
Specimens of lead and of graphite have been shown to me, but I was
unable to identify the districts from which they were obtained, though I
understood that some specimens of graphite came from the hills to the west
of the Lower Shire.
Iron ore is nearly everywhere abundant. Excellent haematite iron comes
from the Upper Shire district. We have actually used some of this iron — have
had it smelted and worked by native blacksmiths — for making the parts of a
gun and such other relatively simple things which were within the scope of
native blacksmiths or Sikh artizans.
Garnets are found in the stream valleys of Mlanje. On the same mountain
beautiful quartz crystals are met with and persons seeing them for the first
time are often deluded into the belief that they have obtained diamonds. No
trace of the blue diamond clay has ever yet been met with in Central Africa.^
There are no deposits of rock-salt, so far as I am aware, but salt is obtained
from the brackish marsh called by the name of Mweru which lies between the
great lake Mweru and Tanganyika ; also from the marsh country in the West
Shire district, and from the brackish Lake Chilwa.^
But salt is also obtained both good and abundant — though rather dark in
colour — from the ashes of grasses and other plants growing on the mountain
plateaux and in the vicinity of rivers and lakes. On the whole, in one way or
another British Central Africa may be considered to be well supplied with salt
manufactured by the natives, which is a favourite article of commerce and is
even a good deal used by Europeans, who in their cooking, if not on their tables,
at any rate in their kitchens, use it in preference to the imported article.
' Commander Cullen supplies the following note:— ** In the upper waters of the Lintipe river
^Central Angoniland) the formation is the same as that of the Vaal River Valley : and as garnets and
crystals are found in it, if it were properly worked it seems probable it might prove diamondiferous. "
^ Mr. Sharpe describes as follows the way in which the natives extract salt from the Mweru
swamp : — '* The natives dwelling round the great Mweru 'Salt swamp take the salt-impregnated earth
round the lake shore and put it into funnels made of closely woven grass rope. They then pour in
water and stir up the salt earth. The water takes up the salt and filtering through the grass funnel,
carries the salt in solution into pots placed below. The water is then evaporated and cakes of pure
salt are left.'*
APPENDIX
THE COAL OF NYASALAND
Report by the Director of the Scientific Department of the Imperial Institute on two samples of coal from
Nyasaland, received through Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., from Mr. Alfred Sharpe, Acting Commissioner
and Consul-General for British Central Africa: —
Specimen K.— Coal from North Nyasaland—Y'wtA carbon, 57*63 % ; ash, I5'57 % ; volatile matter,
26*80 % ; sulphur, 0*10 % ; coke, 73 "20 % ; calorific value, 5520 units. This is a non-caking coal of very
fine quality, which is likely to be useful for most purposes for which coal is employed. The percentage of
ash is rather high, but the coal is remarkably free from sulphur.
Specimen B. — Supposed Coal from the Songwe River — Fixed carbon, 47*46 % ; ash, 8*4 % ; volatile
matter, 44*54; sulphur, 0*52 ; coke, 55-5 ; calorific value, 6050 units. This also is a non-caking coal of
good, quality, yielding very little ash, and containing but little sulphur. This coal would be serviceable
either for heating or for metallurgical purposes. (Signed) Wvndham R. Dunstan.
CHAPTER III
HISTORY
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA only comes within the domain of written
history quite recently, Tanganyika and much of Nyasa scarcely forty
years ago. It is just barely possible that the south end of Lake
Nyasa, and it is certain that a portion of the river Shire which flows from
it, were known to the Portuguese explorers at the latter end of the sixteenth
century. The unwritten history, the history which can be deduced from
researches into language, examinations of racial type, native traditions, and
archaeological researches, extends back into the usual remoteness connected
with the movements of the human genus, though in no part of the world
is it so indefinite or is there such scanty and slight material on which to
construct theories.
It may be that something of this kind occurred. Until further facts
come to light, the tendency of such little knowledge as we at present possess
of the past history of the evolution of man is to lead us to believe that he
was developed from the pithecoid type somewhere in Asia, not improbably in
India.^ It would seem, at any rate, as if the earliest known race of man,
inhabiting what is now British Central Africa, was akin to the Bushman-
Hottentot type of-negro. Rounded 5tones, with a hole through the centre, similar
to those which are used by the Bushmen in the south for weighting their
digging sticks, have been found at the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and
specimens of them were brought home thence by me and given to the British
Museum. I have heard that other examples of these " Bushman " stones have
been found nearer to Lake Nyasa, but I have not seen the alleged specimens.
In one instance I alighted on a curious tradition, which would make it appear
* At any moment this theory, which at present holds the field, may be upset by unlooked-for
discoveries in African pakeontology. Quite recently a discovery oi the most extraordinary importance
and interest has been made by Dr. Forsyth Major in Madagascar, an island which was united to Africa
in the early part of the tertiary epoch. This consists of the fossil remains of a monkey-like form calle<I
Nesopitheais^ a form intermediate between the Cebidie and the Old World monkeys. The Cebidae we the
American monkeys, a type which is connected with the Lemuroids by transitional forms. Mr. R. Lydekker
deduces from these discoveries that the primal stock of the monkeys had its home in Africa ; that from
the African continent branched off the Cebidae, which found their way to America, and there lingered,
while they became extinguished in the Old World; and the Simiidae, or Old World monkeys, which
in turn gave rise to the anthropoid apes and man. So far as we yet know evidence preponderates in
favour of the anthropoid apes having arisen in Southern Asia, whence they penetrated Africa; and the
famous discovery by Dr. Dubois, in Java, of Pithecanthropus erecius^ a form almost intermediate between
the anthropoid ape and the human species, would lead us to imagine that man likewise originated in the
Asiatic continent, which ser\'ed as a distributing centre. The lowest known forms of man living
at the present time, or only recently extinct, are found in Tasmania, Australia, South Eastern Asia,
and Central and Southern Africa. At the same time further discoveries may equallv well show that the
development of the anthropoid ape into man took place in Africa, a guess once hazarded by Darwin.
52
HISTORY
53
that until recently the Bushman type was lingering on the upper plateau of the
Mlanje mountain mass at the south-east corner of the Protectorate. The
Maftanja natives of that district assert positively that there used to live on the
upper part of the mountain, a dwarf race of light yellow complexion with hair
growing in scattered tufts, and with that large development of the buttocks
characteristic of the Bushman -Hottentot type. They gave these people a
specific name, " Arungu," but I confess that this term inspired me with some
distrust of the value of their tradition, as
it was identical with the word for "gods."^
The resemblance, however, may have been
accidental. They declare this people to
have been found on the top of Mlanje
until quite recently. Similar rumours were
collected by a Portuguese officer stationed
at Mlanje, and by him communicated to
me, quite independently of my own re-
searches, and the same idea occurred to
him as to myself, that the traditions
referred to a Bushman type. I have at
different times exhaustively searched, or
caused to be searched, the upper parts of
the Mlanje mountain ; but although traces
of human residence in some of the caves
have been reported, no definite proof of
the existence of any people differing from
the modern type was discovered. That is
to say, traces of human habitation in those
caves and hollows consisted chiefly of
fragments of pottery, which is certainly
not a characteristic sign of Bushman
habitation. It is probably known to my
readers, however, that real undisputed
Bushmen are found (I have seen them
myself) in South Western Africa, in the same latitudes as the southern
part of the British Protectorate under review. Bushman tribes were discovered
by Serpa Pinto and other explorers as far north almost as the 14th parallel
south latitude, in the countries near the Upper Kunene river.
Here and there, in Nyasaland, one meets with faces and forms amongst the
natives which suggest a cropping out of the Hottentot type, as though the
present Bantu races had, on their first invasion of these countries, absorbed
their Bushman predecessors by intermarriage. This Bushman- Hottentot
mixture, however, is not nearly so apparent as it is in the Basuto and
certain Kafir tribes of South Africa. Indeed when South African negroes
come to Nyasaland for work and one is able to contrast them with the
local natives, one is struck at once by the resemblance they offer to
Hottentots, in their paler skins, more prominent cheek bones, deep set eyes
and flattened nose. It is evident that the Basuto - Bechuana people
especially have much mingled with the Hottentots in times past. It would
seem from the researches of Mr. Theodore Bent in the ruined cities of
* Murungn=a god. A-rungu = gods. Yet this is not the ordinary phiral which is Mi-hingu or
Mi-ningu, though it is A-rungu in the more northern dialects.
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG BUSHMAN
54 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mashonaland that those earlier settlers from Southern Arabia, who mined
for gold some two thousand years ago and less, in South Central Africa,
were only acquainted with native inhabitants of a Bushman- Hottentot type,
to judge by the drawings, engravings and models they have left, intended to
depict natives engaged in the chase.
The evidence which I have quoted at length in my book on Kilimanjaro,^
and in the prefatory chapters to the Life of Livingstone, derived from a com-
parative study of the Bantu languages, leads me to believe that the invasion
of the southern half of Africa by big black negro races, nowadays so familiar
to us, was relatively recent in the history of man — perhaps not much more than
2O0O years ago. Some cause, such as the dense forests of the Congo Basin,
must have checked their descent of the continent from the Sudan. They
may also have been held back for a long time — especially on the eastern side
of the continent where the forests could never have been in recent times a
serious obstacle— -by the sturdy opposition of the prior inhabitants of Bushman-
Hottentot type. Be that as it may, I do not think the black negroes, the
V present inhabitants of South Central Africa, have been in possession of those
countries from time immemorial, and in their own traditions they vaguely recall
a descent from the North.
It is possible that when the Sabaeans and Arabs traded with South-east
Africa, during the first half of the Christian era, one or another of them may
have penetrated into the countries round Lake Nyasa. With this proviso,
however, as to the possibility of such a journey having taken place, it must
be stated that as far as we know, the Arabs did little more in regard to British
Central Africa than to settle on the coast of the Indian Ocean, or to establish
a trading dep6t at Sena, on the Lower Zambezi.
It would seem to me as though 3000 years ago the distribution of races
in Africa had stood thus. The southern half of the continent, from a little
north of the Equator to the Cape of Good Hope, was very sparsely populated
with a low Negroid type, of which the Bushmen and Hottentots, and possibly
the pigmy tribes of the Congo forests,^ are the descendants. The North and
North-east of Africa, from Morocco to Egypt and Egypt to Somaliland, was
p>eopled mainly by the Hamites, a race akin in origin and language to the
Semitic type, which latter was certainly a higher development from a parent
Hamitic stock. The Hamites themselves, however, obviously originated as a
superior ascending variety of the Negritic species, from which basal stock
had been derived in still earlier times the Bushman- Hottentot group, whose
languages — especially that of the Hottentot — are thought by some authorities
to show remote affinities in structure to the Hamitic tongues. Westward of
the Hamites, and an earlier divergence from the original Negritic group, were
the true black negroes, more closely allied in origin perhaps to the Bushmen-
Hottentots than to the more divergent Hamites. But 3000 years ago, I am
inclined to believe that the true negroes were bounded in their distribution
by the northern limits of the Sahara Desert, the Atlantic Ocean, the great
forests of the Congo Basin, and either the Nile Valley or the Abyssinian
Highlands on the East. Here and there these different sections of the Negritic
stock mingled, producing races superior to the pure negro, like the Nubians,
the Somalis, and the Fulbe, which dwell more or less on the borderland between
the negro and the Hamite. When the true negroes invaded the southern half
* The Kilimanjaro Expedition^ pp. 478-48.^.
' These latter much mixed I am sure with the black negroes.
HISTORY S5
of the African continent, some 2000 to 3000 years ago, they carried with them
such culture, domestic animals, and cultivated plants as they had derived
indirectly from Egypt. I should think that in Nyasaland and along the shores
of Lake Tanganyika, the history of negro culture has been retrograde, until
the coming of the Arab and the European. In one or two places on the shores
of Lake Nyasa old pottery has been dug up at a considerable depth below the
surface, with trees of great girth and age growing over these remains. The
pottery has been found imbedded in the sand of an ancient shore-line of
Nyasa, now covered by about 5 feet of humus, in which baobab trees are
strongly rooted. From the approximate age of the trees, and the time it
should have taken to accumulate this vegetable soil, some of this pottery must
have been 500 or 600 years old. One large pot thus found has been deposited
by me in the British Museum. These few remains exhibit evidences of greater
skill and taste than is shown by the pottery at the present time in the same
districts. Researches founded on the study of languages, of religions, of
traditions, and on the records of Portuguese explorers in West Africa, would
also seem to show that in Western Africa many of the negro States were in
a far higher state of culture 500 years ago than they are now.
The line of the migration of the Bantu negroes in British Central Africa
will be treated of in Chapter XL, which describes their languages. It will be
sufficient to say, as regards history, that we may presume them to have entered
into possession of these countries — driving out or absorbing the antecedent
Bushman race — about 1000 years ago.
With the doubtful exception of the visit of an occasional Arab slave
dealer, they had no contact with the outer world until the arrival of the
Portuguese on the East Coast of Africa, which is the first definite landmark
in the history of this portion of the continent. Vasco da Gama, after rounding
the Cape of Good Hope in 1495, stopped at the Arab settlements of Sofala
(near the modern Beira) and Mogambique, and thence passed onwards to
Malindi (near Mombasa) and India. On his return from India he further
explored the South-east Coast of Africa, and (probably from information
given by Arab pilots) entered with his little fleet the Quelimane River,^ which
was connected intermittently with the main Zambezi, and which, until the other
day, was thought to be the only certain means of reaching the Zambezi above
its delta. This river he called the " Rio dos Bons Signaes," or the " River of
Good Indications." The name " Quelimane," which he applied to a small
village 12 miles inland from the mouth of the river (the origin of the now
important town of Quelimane, the capital of Portuguese Zambezia) is stated
by the Portuguese to have the following etymology. This village belonged
to a certain individual who acted as interpreter between the Portuguese and
the natives. He appears to have been an Arab, or a half Arab. In those
days Portuguese navigators seem to have been acquainted with Arabic, a
language which probably still lingered in the southern part of Portugal, where
Moorish kingdoms existed till the twelfth century. The name which the
Portuguese applied to this individual was " Quelimane " (pronounced Keliman).
Now in the corrupt Coast Arabic "Kaliman" is the word for "Interpreter."^
Consequently the name of the modern town Quelimane* is simply derived
^ On Jan. 22nd, 1498. ^ In Swahili this becomes Mkalimani.
* I have taken the opportunity to give this bit of etymology as there has long been a misapprehension
as to the correct spelling of Quelimane, which was thought wrongly to be derived from "Kilimani,"
which means in Swahili ** on the hill." But there is no hill within eighty miles of Quelimane. The true
native name of this place is *' Chuabo."
56
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
from the term " Interpreter," applied to this guide and go-between of Vasco
da Gama.
For some five centuries before the Portuguese arrived the Arabs of
Southern and Eastern Arabia had formed or re-formed settlements along the
East Coast of Africa from Somaliland to Sofala.^ In the direction of British
Central Africa they were chiefly established at Mozambique, Ngoji (Angoche),
and Sena on the Zambezi. They apparently found no direct entrance into the
Zambezi River which could be easily navigated by their daus, and preferred
to use the Quelimane River. This in exceptional rainy seasons at the present
day becomes connected with the Zambezi river, by overflow creeks ; and
possibly some centuries ago was the most northern branch of the delta. The
Arabs would seem, therefore, to have gone up this river past Quelimane, and
then to have travelled either by water when the river was full, or pverland
at other seasons, to Sena, a settlement not far from the junction of the Zambezi
and the Shire. From Sena again they had overland communication to their
settlements at Sofala, near the modem town of Beira.^
At first the Portugu^e were received by the Arabs in a friendly fashion, and
several of the Portuguese were taken up by Arab guides from Quelimane to
Sena. Before many years ^ were over the Portuguese had dispossessed the
Arabs, and driven them away. From Sofala to Mozambique they replaced
them so completely, with the exception of their settlements at Angoche,* that
they disappeared entirely and never returned, even after the temporary decay
of the Portuguese power which enabled the Arabs to reconquer the East Coast
of Africa as far south as Kilwa.
At first Sena, on the Lower Zambezi, was the headquarters of the Portu-
guese Administration, and from hence various expeditions, during the sixteenth
century, were sent southwards to discover the gold mines of Manika — expedi-
tions which were mostly unsuccessful, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate
and the presence of the Tsetse fly. Another obstacle in the way of Portuguese
enterprise was the kingdom of Monomotapa,^ a powerful empire of Bantu
negroes, probably related in stock to the Zulus. The influence of Monomotapa
must have ranged from the vicinity of the south end of Lake Nyasa to the
Limpopo River. Simultaneously with the first Portuguese '* Conquistadores "
^ I say "re-formed" because we are now practically certain that some races of Southern Arabia had
founded their ancient settlements — possibly in connection with the Phoenicians— in South-eastern Africa,
not only on the East Coast but far in the interior of Mashonaland. These settlements were, it is supposed,
destroyed by the advent of the Bantu tribes from the North, who were far more formidable enemies to
tackle than the feeble Bushmen and Hottentots. It is possible that the natives of Arabia did not entirely
five up their African trade, though they had to quit the interior and confine their settlements to the coast.
lut whether or no there was a gap in Arab enterprise in the early part of the Christian era, there was a
great revival in the tenth century, and in the eleventh century a strong Arab kingdom was formed at
Kilwa (midway between Zanzibar and Mo9ambique) which exercised a kmd of suzerainty over the other
settlements or Sultanates. Mosques were built at this period, the remains of which may be seen at the
present day.
'^ Beira was the name given to this place not many years ago by the Portuguese, when it was
first founded, after Col. Paiva d*Andrada's explorations of the Pungwe river. ** Beira'* is the name of
one of the principal provinces of Portugal, and the eldest son of the heir to the throne of Portugal always
bears the title of ** Principe da Beira." Beira is pronounced **Bay-ra" in Portuguese. Consequently,
with their usual perversity, the English people have decided to call it "By-ra," for it is one of our
national peculiarities to devote all our best energy to a mispronunciation of foreign words.
^ I believe the Arabs remained in possession of Sena until near the end of the sixteenth century.
* Which really remain unconquered to this day.
* This name was derived from the native appellation of the Makaranga chief, and is apparently a
corruption of **Mwene Mutapa " = * * I^rd Hippopotamus"; or *' Mwana-Mutapa" — ** Child of the
Hippopotamus." The hippopotamus was much reverenced by the tribes of the Central Zambezi, and
is so, to some extent, still.
HISTORY
S7
and mining adventurers came lion-hearted Jesuit Missionaries, resolved on
repeating in the Zambezi countries the successes they had obtained in
Christianising the kingdom of the Congo. Several of these men were
martyred by the orders of the Emperor of Monomotapa ; but eventually
they established themselves at Zumbo, on the Central Zambezi, at the con-
fluence of the great Luangwa River.
The modern capital of Tete,^ which is the most important town on the
Zambezi, was not founded until the middle of the seventeenth century, and was
merely a station of Jesuit Missionaries originally, though afterwards taken over
by the Portuguese Government. At first, however, the principal towns were
Zumbo and Sena.
governor's house, tete
The Portuguese soon penetrated northward of the Zambezi, in the direction
of the Maravi country and the watershed of Lake Nyasa. Here they dis-
covered, or re-discovered, from hints given by Arabs or natives, the gold
deposits of Misale,^ and for some century or so afterwards these gold mines
were extensively worked. Curiously enough, however, the chief mineral dis-
coveries of the Portuguese at this time lay in the direction of silver, though
at the present time we have no knowledge of any existing silver mines in the
Zambezi countries.
In 1616 a Portuguese, named Jaspar Bocarro, offered to carry samples of
Zambezi silver overland from the Central Zambezi to Malindi, a Portuguese
settlement to the north of Mombasa, without going near Mozambique. The
' Tete is the name for a reed. The plural ** Matete" means '*a reed-bed." It is possible that this
was the etymology of the name, as the shore is very reedy about that part of the Zambezi. But the
native name of Tete is " Nyungwi."
2 Nowadays Misale lies within the British sphere of influence, and a British company is attempting
to work its gold.
58
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
THE ISLAND OF MO<j'AMDIQUE, SEEN FROM THE MAINLAND
motive of this offer lay in the fact that considerable friction existed between
the Central Government of Mozambique, which was under the Viceroys of
India, and the Portuguese adventurers on the Zambezi, who strongly objected
to the grinding monopolies which the Mozambique Government sought to
establish. Jaspar Bocarro apparently journeyed from where the town of Tete
now stands to the Upper Shire River, crossing that stream near its junction
with the Ruo ; and then, passing through the Anguru country in the vicinity
of Lake Chilwa, he entered the Lujenda Valley, and so travelled on to the
Ruvuma River, and thence to the coast at Mikindani. ^From Mikindani he
continued his journey to Malindi by sea. So far as reliable records go, this was
the first European to enter what is now styled " British Central Africa."
The Jesuit priests from Zumbo had journeyed westward into the country
of the Batonga or Batoka,^ and northwards up the Luangwa River. They
^ Sir John Kirk, when travelling with Livingstone, in 1859, discovered groves of fruit trees in the
Batoka country which may have been introduced by the Jesuits.
HISTORY 59
transmitted rumours of a great lake (Nyasa), which they styled Lake " Maravi."
This really meant ** a lake in the country of the Maravi," Maravi being an old
name (now nearly extinct) of the Nyanja tribes in the south-west of Nyasa-
land. But in the middle of the eighteenth century the Jesuits were expelled
from all the Portuguese Dominions by order of the Marquez de Pombal ; and
after their departure from the Central Zambezi there was a temporary diminu-
tion of Portuguese activity. At the very end of the last century, however, the
interest of the Portuguese Government in its East African possessions was
revived by the British Government having taken possession of the Cape of
Good Hope at the outbreak of the war with France. In the year following
the seizure of Cape Town^ by an English force, Dr. Francisco Jos^ Maria de
Lacerda e Almeida, a distinguished scientific man who was a native of Brazil,,
and a Doctor of Mathematics at Coimbra University (Portugal), addressed a very
remarkable letter to the Portuguese Government, setting forth that the results
of the English invasion of Capetown would be the creation of a great British
South African Empire, which would, if not counteracted in time, spread north-
wards across the Zambezi, and separate the Portuguese Dominions of Angola
and Mozambique. This, I think, at the period and with the limited
geographical knowledge then possessed by even a Portuguese University,
was one of the most remarkable instances of political foresight which can
be quoted. The Portuguese Government was so struck with Dr. Lacerda's
arguments that it appointed him Governor of the Rios de Sena,^ and
authorised him to conduct an expedition "d contra-costa " — across Africa from
the Zambezi countries to Angola, establishing Portuguese Suzerainty along his
route.
It should be stated at this juncture that not nearly so many white Portuguese
had assisted in opening up the East African territories, as had settled in Angola,,
and on the West Coast of Africa. In those days the Portuguese East African
possessions were generally knit up with their Viceroyalty of India, and the
pure-blooded Portuguese in the Zambezi countries were few in number
compared to the "Canarins'' or Canarese These people were half-caste
natives of Goa, with more or less Indian blood in their veins, and constituted
the principal element in the Portuguese Zambezi settlements. They were very
enterprising men, though they relapsed into semi-savagery, and as slave-traders
and robbers had a record almost more evil than that of the Arabs. Nevertheless
the European blood in their veins sharply distinguished these Goanese from
the unlettered black people, and of some of their journeys they kept more
or less intelligent records. Two Goanese of the name of Pereira, father and
son, had gone gold hunting to the north of the Zambezi, and had eventually
pushed on with their armed slaves till they reached the Kazembe*s country,
near Lake Mweru. The reports which they gave of the Kazembe (a lieutenant
or satrap of the Muata Yanvo of Lunda) decided Dr. Lacerda to proceed
thither on his way across to Angola. His expedition numbered about 75
white Portuguese, and the two Pereiras accompanied it as guides. Dr. Lacerda,
however, only succeeded in reaching Kazembe's capital, near the south end of
Lake Mweru, and eventually died there on the i8th October, 1798. After his
death the expedition became so disorganised that instead of continuing the
journey to Angola it returned to Tete.
At the beginning of the present century two half-caste Portuguese, named
Baptista and Amaro Jose, crossed from the Kwango River in the interior
^ Which took place in 1795. * The old name for the Zambezi.
6o BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
of Angola to the Kazembe's country, near Lake Mweru, and thence to Tete
on the Zambezi. In 1831 Major Monteiro and Captain Gamitto conducted
a mission from Tete to the Kazembe, and some years subsequently Silva Porto,
a Portuguese colonist, of Bihe, in the interior of Benguela, is also said to have
rambled over much of South Central Africa ; further, a certain Candido de
Costa Cardoso claimed that he sighted the south-west corner of Lake Nyasa
in 1846; but none Of these explorers, with the exception of Dr. Lacerda,
possessed any scientific qualifications, and their journeys led to little or no
geographical information or political ascendancy. Indeed, what is remarkable
about Dr. Lacerda, to say nothing of the other explorers, was the extraordinary
bad luck which prevented him from sighting any important river or lake. He
reached a point within a few miles of the large Lake Mweru, and yet either
never saw it, or thought it not worth mention. He heard vague rumours of
Tanganyika and of Nyasa, but did not direct his steps in either direction ;
and, stranger still, he missed the recognition of the remarkable Luapula, which
we now know to be the Upper Congo, though he must have actually been
within sight of it.
The real history of British Central Africa begins with the advent of
Livingstone. This intrepid missionary had gradually pushed his explorations
northwards from the Cape of Good Hope until he reached the Central Zambezi
in 185 1, accompanied by the celebrated sportsman Mr. Oswell. Impressed
with the importance of his discovery Livingstone returned to Cape Town,
and with the generous assistance of Mr. Oswell, was enabled not only to send
his wife and children out of harm's way, but to equip himself for the tremendous
exploration of South Central Africa, which he had determined to accomplish.
Having perfected himself in astronomical observ^ations, under the tuition of the
Astronomer-Royal of Cape Town, Livingstone started for the North and once
more reached the Zambezi, near its confluence with the Chobe. Thence he
travelled up the Zambezi to its source, and across to Angola and again back
from Angola and down the Zambezi to its mouth, or more correctly speaking
to Quelimane, on the Indian Ocean. This epoch-making journey had important
and far-reaching results. Livingstone was sent back by the British Government
at the head of a well-equipped expedition, and was accompanied amongst
others by Dr., now Sir John, Kirk, who, besides being medical officer, was
the naturalist of the expedition.
After a journey to Tete and visits to the " Quebrabago *' Rapids for the
purpose of determining the navigability of the Zambezi above Tete, Livingstone
determined to search for and find the reported great lake out of which the Shire^
flowed to join the Zambezi. At this date the Portuguese knew scarcely anything
of the Shire beyond its confluence with the Zambezi. They seem to have
lost all remembrance of the one or two earlier journeys in that direction of
Portuguese explorers. Consequently, before Livingstone and his party had
ascended the Shire very far they found themselves in a country absolutely
new to the white man. After several futile attempts to reach Lake Nyasa,
in the course of one of which they discovered the brackish Lake Chilwa,
which lies to the south-east of the greater lake, and Lake Malombe, which
^ The name of the "Shire" river was formerly written by the Portuguese **Cherim" (pronounce,
"Shdring"); this was later still written **Chire," which if the "ch" be pronounced as in ** church"
fairly represents the native pronunciation. But the Portuguese pronounce **ch" like **sh," therefore
Livingstone heard them speak of this river as the ** Shire," and thus transcribed it in English. The
correct native pronunciation is '*Chiri" (Cheeree), and the word means in Chinyanja **a steep bank "—
Nyanja ya chiri, ** the river with the steep banks."
HISTORY
6i
is a widening of the Upper Shire, Livingstone and his companions finally
reached the southern extremity of Nyasa, near the site of the modem settle-
ment of Fort Johnston, on the i6th of September, 1859, the first white men,
as far as we know with any certainty, who stood on the shores of Lake Nyasa.
As the district in which Livingstone discovered this third greatest of the lakes
of Africa was under Yao domination, he recorded its name as pronounced
by the Yao, i.e. Nyasa; but its most common appellation is Nyanja. This is
the same word as Nyanza farther north, and Nyasa, Nyanja, and Nyanza
are derived from an archaic and widespread Bantu root -anza, which means
**a broad water." ^
Livingstone and his party extended their explorations of the western coast
of Lake Nyasa as far north as about 11*30 south latitude, a little more than
THE POINT ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE NYASA WHENCE THE LAKE WAS FIRST SEEN
BY DR. LIVINGSTONE AND SIR JOHN KIRK IN 1859
half-way up the lake. Subsequently Livingstone travelled inland west of Lake
Nyasa till he reached the watershed of the great Luangwa River, and it
was upon hearing at that point of a not far distant lake that he resolved,
on his succeeding journey, to proceed along the same route, and thus discovered
the south end of Lake Tanganyika, Lake Mweru, the Luapula River, and Lake
Bangweolo. Whilst Livingstone and Kirk were exploring Lake Nyasa and
the Shire Highlands, however, they were joined by a Christian Mission under
Bishop Mackenzie, which had been sent out from the two great English
Universities, and which exists to this day under the name of the " Universities
Mission to Central Africa." These missionaries settled in the eastern part
of the Shire Highlands, just as the invasions of the Muhammadan Yao slave
raiders were beginning.
^ This root is found even among the more corrupt Bantu tongues of Western Equatorial Afriai.
For instance, the broad estuary of the Cameroons River is called in the Duala tongue " Muanza.'*
and the same name is given to the Lower Congo.
62 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Following on the Portuguese expeditions at the end of the i8th century
to Kazembe's country, a great intercourse had sprung up between the Babisa
tribe, which inhabits the district to the west of the great I.uangwa River and
the Zanzibar coast. The Babisa had acquired guns from the Portuguese, and,
armed in this way, had asserted themselves effectually against tribes still armed
with the bow and spear. They became an enterprising people and resolved
to trade directly with the Coast. Not liking the Portuguese, however, they
preferred to journey farther north, and trafficked with the Arabs of Zanzibar.
About this time the Zanzibar Sultanate was increasing gradually in power.
It was an appanage of the Imamate of Maskat ('Oman), and already the
Maskat Arabs (who had replaced the Portuguese in all the trading settlements
of Eastern Africa, between the Ruvuma River and Somaliland) had begun to
push their slave and ivory trading enterprises into the interior of Eastern
Africa, especially in the direction of Tanganyika. Attracted, however, by the
accounts which the Babisa caravans gave of the fertile country in which they
dwelt, and struck with the docility of the slaves brought down by the Babisa
from the Nyasa countries, certain Arabs accompanied the Babisa caravans
back to their place of origin, which was, as I have said, the countries lying to
the west of the great Luangwa River. The route they followed was from ports
like Kilwa on the East Coast to Lake Nyasa thence across Nyasa and south-
west or due west to the Lubisa country.
In the course of these journeys the Arabs became acquainted with that race
of fine physical development and stubborn character, the Yao, who inhabit
much of the high country lying between the Indian Ocean and Lake Nyasa.
In the Yao they found willing confederates in the slave trade, and a people
much inclined to Muhammadanism. Eventually the poor Babisa were attacked
and enslaved by neighbouring tribes who had been armed by the Arabs, and
their importance passed away. The Arabs and Yao between them began to
dominate Nyasaland. Now the inhabitants of the bulk of Nyasaland proper,
with the exception of its north-west portion, belonged in the main to what may
be called the A-nyanja stock. These people who are referred to by Portuguese
of an earlier date as the Amaravi, and who are of the same race as the indigenous
inhabitants of the Zambezi Valley between Tete and Sena and of the whole
course of the Shire, are of a singularly docile and peaceful disposition, devoted
to agriculture and timid in warfare — a race consequently that is always falling
under the domination of more powerful and energetic tribes. Before what may
be called the Yao invasion of the Shire Highlands the Nyanja people had been
oppressed by Zulu invaders coming from the south-west. The convulsions
which had been taking place in Zululand in the early part of this century had
resulted in a most curious recoil of the Zulu race on Central Africa. It is
probably not many centuries since the forerunners of the Zulus swept down
from Central Africa, from the region of the great lakes, across the Zambezi,
into Southern Africa, driving themselves like a wedge through the earlier Bantu
invaders, the ancestors of the Basuto-Bechuana, and further displacing and
destroying the feebler Hottentot people. Now, however, with the Indian Ocean
in front of them, and internal commotions and increase of population com-
j)elling them to find more space for settlement, sections of them began to turn
their faces back towards the Zambezi. The foundations of the Matabele^
kingdom were laid, and band after band of Zulus crossed the Zambezi about
^ Or Amandabele, as it ought to be written but that we English love inaccuracy in pronunciation
iind spelling for its own sake. Maiabele is the Se-chuana corniption of the Zulu ** Amandabele.''
HISTORY 63
1 825-6, and in their raids and conquests almost penetrated as far as the southern
shores of the Victoria Nyanza, whilst they were constantly heard of on the east
coast of Tanganyika. In the west and south-west of Nyasaland they had
founded kingdoms and enslaved the local inhabitants, when the Yao from the
north-east hurled themselves on the fertile Shire districts. So that the unfor-
tunate Nyanja people were caught between Zulu and Yao, and suffered greatly.
The British missionaries and explorers, however, saw little of the Zulu raiders
in those earlier days.^ At the beginning of the "sixties" they were chiefly
concerned with the Yao invasion. After in vain attempting to defend their
Nyanja converts from the attacks of the Yao, the Universities Mission lost so
many of its members from sickness, and was additionally so discouraged
by the abandonment of Dr. Livingstone's schemes, that it withdrew from the*
country for a time. Livingstone and his Expedition were recalled by the
British Government at the end of 1863, and quitted Zambezia in 1864.
The fact was that the British Government was at that time discouraged
from any further work in the Zambezi countries by the following obstacles :
the political opposition shown by the Portuguese j^ the acknowledged sway
of the Portuguese over the coast line which made it impossible to communicate
with any British Possessions which might be founded in the interior; the
unhealthiness of the coast lands ; and the seeming absence of any easy way
into the Zambezi River, all the known mouths of which were cursed with
<langerous and shallow bars. The discovery of the Chinde mouth, which
afterwards revolutionised the whole question, had not then been made ; or.
it may be, the Chinde branch of the Zambezi as an easily navigated river did
not then exist, for there have evidently been great fluctuations in the Zambezi
Delta with regard to the course taken by the principal body of its water.
Following on Livingstone's first journey across South Central Africa, a great
interest had sprung up in France and Germany regarding the existence of the
reported Central African lakes. The German Missionaries in the pay of the
Church Missionary Society in East Africa, had discovered the snow mountains
of Kenia and Kilimanjaro and had reported, from native information, the
existence of the Victoria Nyanza, of Tanganyika and of Lake Nyasa. Fore-
most amongst the African explorers of that day, and, at the time, second in
importance to Livingstone only, was a young lieutenant in the Indian Army —
Richard Francis Burton — who, stationed at Aden, had attempted the exploration
of Somaliland with a brother-officer named Speke. After some difficulty
Burton had induced the Geographical Society and Her Majesty's Government
to provide him with the funds for an expedition which would start from
opposite Zanzibar to discover the great Central African lake or lakes. He
chose Lieut Speke as his companion, and together they discovered Lake
Tanganyika, Speke afterwards being dispatched by Burton to look for the
great lake of Ukerewe, which Speke declared with truth to be the main source
of the Nile and which he named the Victoria Nyanza. Burton and Speke
were the first Europeans to arrive on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. They
explored its northern half, but not very much work was done in the way of
* Livingstone however came in contact with them when he explored the western shores of Lake
Nyasa.
^ But it must be distinctly stated that throughout the whole course of Livingstone's first and second
Zambezi expeditions though the Portuguese Government may have viewed with distaste the interest
evinced by England in the Zambezi and the interior of East Central Africa, the courtesy and kindness
shown by the Portuguese authorities to Livingstone and the rest of his expedition were praiseworthy
in the extreme. For particulars of this see my Life. of Livin^tone,
64 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
mapping beyond visiting the western shore and making a rough outline of the
northern portion of the lake. Prior to Burton's journey, a young Frenchman
started from Zanzibar for the same purpose, but had been murdered on the way
to Tanganyika, and after Burton's expedition a German doctor, named Ernst
Roscher, had set out for Lake Nyasa in the disguise of an Arab. He reached
the eastern shore of the lake at a place called Lusewa, on the 19th November,
1859, ^wo months after Livingstone's discovery. On his attempted return to
the coast, however, he was murdered by the Yao, a murder which was to some
extent avenged by the Sultan of Zanzibar, who brought influence to bear
on the Yao chiefs to send the ostensible murderers to Zanzibar to be executed.
Another German traveller of some celebrity. Baron von der Decken, who was
the first systematic explorer of Kilimanjaro, had attempted to reach Lake
Nyasa, but scarcely got half way.
Meantime Livingstone, after a year's sojourn in England, had managed to
scrape together funds for another Central Africa exploration. He was very
desirous of resuming his journeys in search of other lakes to the west of Lake
Nyasa. Travelling by Bombay and Zanzibar he landed at Mikindani at the
end of March, 1866. He was, I believe, the first explorer to attempt taking
with him natives of India as guards or soldiers ; but it must be confessed that
although the employment of Indians in Central Africa has since proved very
successful, the Muhammadan Sepoys who accompanied Livingstone turned out
utter failures, and were eventually sent back from Mataka's, a town in the Yao
country. Livingstone also tried to introduce the Indian buffalo, an experiment
not repeated until my reintroduction of this animal from India in 1895. It
is interesting to note that Livingstone's buffalos passed through the tsetse fly
country, and, seemingly, were not affected by the bites of that insect, though
they all subsequently died as the result of maltreatment at the hands of the
Sepoys.
Livingstone again reached the shores of Lake Nyasa, at its south-eastern gulf,
on the 8th of August, 1866 ; but being unable to cross without a dau he walked
right round the southern end, and thence turned his steps northwards. At
Marenga's town, near the south-west corner of Lake Nyasa, there were rumours
of Angoni-Zulu raids, which greatly scared the coast -men of Livingstone's
caravan, who consequently abandoned him here; and to excuse themselves
at Zanzibar for their act of bad faith, they reported, with much corroborative
detail, the death of Livingstone at the hands of the Angoni.
Livingstone, after the desertion of these coast-men (who were natives of
the Comoro Islands) pursued his way northwards, and reached the great
Luangwa river in December, 1866; on the 28th of January, 1867, he crossed
the Chambezi river, which issues from the Bangweolo marshes, under the name
of the Luapula, and is in reality the extreme Upper Congo. On the 1st of
April he reached the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and for the time being,
believed it to be a separate lake under the nam.e of Liemba ; on the 8th of
November, 1867, he discovered Lake Mweru ; on the i8th of July, 1868, Lake
Bangweolo. Returning from Bangweolo, he journeyed with an Arab caravan
from Kazembe's town near the south end of Lake Mweru, to the west shore
of Tanganyika, which he crossed to Ujiji, reaching that place in March, 1869.
After attempting in vain to organize a caravan for a journey round the north
end of Lake Tanganyika he recrossed the lake to the opposite side in July,
and having joined a large party of Arabs and Swahilis, he wandered with them
in the Manyema country for many months. His object was the Lualaba river
HISTORY 65
<the Upper Congo) of which he had heard much to excite his curiosity, and
which river, he believed, with occasional misgivings, to be the Upper Nile.
But so erratic were the wanderings of the Arabs to and fro in the Manyema
country that Livingstone did not actually reach the banks of the Lualaba until
March, 1871. Resolved to devote himself now to the tracing of what he
believed to be the Upper Nile from its source on the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau to its entrance into the Albert Nyanza, Livingstone decided to return
to Ujiji and renew his stock of trade goods and provisions. His journey from
the Lualaba to Ujiji was accompanied by indescribable hardships, which
produced such an effect on his constitution that they eventually led to his
-death two years later. Soon after returning to Ujiji he met Henry M. Stanley,
who had been sent by the New York Herald to " find Dr. Livingstone, living
or dead."
Stanley's arrival certainly added two years more to Livingstone's life, as
by a series of accidents and frauds he found himself absolutely destitute
of resources after his return to Ujiji. Together the two men made an ex-
ploration of the north end of Lake Tanganyika, and then journeyed eastwards
to Unyanyembe, half way to Zanzibar. Here Livingstone insisted on parting
company with Stanley, though the latter earnestly entreated him to return
to Europe ; but with Livingstone the idea of finding the ultimate sources of
the Nile had become almost a monomania, and he was resolved not to return
to Europe until he had mapped the upper waters of the Chambezi and the
Luapula, together with the river Lualaba, which took its rise in the Katanga
Highlands to the West. So he started off once more for Lake Bangweolo in
August, 1872, passing round the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and reaching
the eastern shores of Lake Bangweolo in the month of April, 1873. But his
race was run, and he died at a village near the south end of that marshy lake
on or about the ist of May, 1873.
Meantime Nyasaland had not long remained without English visitors. In
1867 Lieut. Young conducted an expedition to the south end of Lake Nyasa
to examine into the reports as to the murder of Livingstone by the Angoni.
Young (who only died a few months ago) conducted this expedition in a most
remarkably successful manner. He left England in the middle of May, 1867,
reached the Zambezi with three European companions and a steel boat on the
2Sth of July, journeyed with his baggage in the steel boat (which was named
The Search^) and in a flotilla of smaller boats and canoes up the Zambezi and
the Shire to the Murchison cataracts; conveyed the steel boat overland to the
Upper Shire; reached Mponda's town at the south end of Lake Nyasa;
collected a mass of information which conclusively proved that Livingstone
was not killed but had started unmolested on his way to the West; returned
to the Zambezi, and reached England at the beginning of 1868 after only eight
months' absence.
Young had been greatly helped in his transit of the Shire Highlands by
the Makololo whom Livingstone had left behind in that district after his
withdrawal from the Zambezi in 1864. Those who have read the well-known
works dealing with Dr. Livingstone's explorations will remember that on
his first journey of discovery up and down the Zambezi he had been accom-
panied by certain faithful Makololo porters who had followed him from the
Barutse country, on the Upper Zambezi. The so-called Makololo were a
section of the Bechuana people who, leaving Basutoland after tribal
^ And is slill plying on the ShirCt
66 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
disturbances, journeyed across the Kalahari Desert, and established themselves
in the Barutse country.^ When Livingstone reached Tete on his journey back
to the East Coast in 1856 he left behind at that place the so-called Makololo
(about 25 in number), who had followed him from the Upper Zambezi. On
his return in 1858 he picked them up again and added to their numbers several
others who followed him of their own free will on his second visit to the
Barutse country.
These men were very useful to his expedition in exploring the River
Shire, and were of a masterful nature, easily imposing themselves as superior
beings on the timid Maftanja people of the Central Shire. When Dr.
Livingstone had to leave the country, anxious to put a check on the
depredations of the Yao coming from the east, and the Angoni coming from
the west, he armed these Makololo, and left them behind to protect the
Maftanja natives. The result was that they very soon constituted themselves
the chiefs of that country, and they subsequently played a most important
part in checking the advances of the Yao and the Angoni, and in sturdily
resisting any attempts on the part of the Portuguese to conquer the Shire
countries.
In 1874 Mr. Faulkner, who was one of the party accompanying Lieut.
Young, R.N., returned to the Shire as a hunter of big game. He was, I
believe, eventually killed by the natives. He had a son by a native wife
who now bears his name, and who was the first half-caste, so far as we know^
born in the Protectorate.
Livingstone's death caused a tremendous enthusiasm to spring up for the
continuation of his work as a Missionary and as an Explorer. Cameron
completed Burton's and Livingstone's map of Lake Tanganyika ; Stanley, at
the expense of the Daily Telegi'aph, continued the exploration of the Cong^o
from Nyangwe, where Livingstone had left it, to the Atlantic Ocean ; but in
Nyasaland proper Livingstone's work was immediately continued by the Scotch
Missionaries. The Livingstonia Free Church Mission was founded in 1874
and sent out its first party of Missionaries with a small steamer in sections,
for Lake Nyasa, in 1875. They were joined, in 1876, by the Pioneers of
the Church of Scotland Mission, who ch(jse the site of the present town of
Blantyre, and established themselves in the Shire Highlands, while the Free
Church applied itself to the evangelisation of Lake Nyasa. It is interesting
to note that' the leader of the first Missionary expedition — Dr. Laws — who
went out in 1875, and the engineer of the first Mission steamer placed on
Lake Nyasa (the Ilala, which is still plying), Mr. A. C. Simpson, are still alive
and well, and hard at work in Nyasaland, the one as a senior member of the
Mission he has served so devotedly for twenty-one years, and the other as a
prosperous planter at Mlanje.
Shortly after the Church of Scotland Mission had established itself at
Blantyre, a young gardener, named John Buchanan, was sent from Scotland to
assist the Mission in horticulture. ^
In 1878 Captain Frederick Elton had been appointed Consul at Mo9ambique,
and had obtained permission to conduct an expedition to Lake Nyasa to report
' Barutse is stated to be derived from *'Bahurutse" the name of another of the Bechuana septs
These Bechuana emij^rants who sometimes called themselves the Makololo had conquered the Barutse
country, from its native chiefs of Baloi race. But as a matter of fact these famous Makololo porters who
have played such a part in the history* of Nyasaland were very few of them of Bechuana blood. Many of
them were slaves of lialoi, or kindred races of the Upper Zambezi. .
t '^ lie was the means of introducing and planting the coft'cc shrub in Central Africa.
HISTORY 67
on the slave trade. He was accompanied by Mr. H. B. Cotterill, Mr. Herbert
Rhodes,^ and Captain Hoste.
With the aid of the Httle Mission steamer Ilala Consul Elton explored the
north end of Lake Nyasa, which he was able to show extended much farther
northwards than had been supposed by Livingstone and Kirk. This northward
extension of the Lake was further verified a few years afterwards by numerous
observations for Latitude taken by Mr. James Stewart, an engineer in the
employ of the African Lakes Company. Consul Elton first made known to us
the remarkable Livingstone or Ukinga Mountains, at the end of Lake Nyasa,
which attain an altitude, in parts, of nearly 10,000 feet. Unhappily Consul
Elton died in Wunyamwezi on his way to Zanzibar.
The Missions had not been long established when they found it impossible
MANDALA HOUSE, NEAR BLANTYRE
to conduct the necessary trade with the natives (for provisions could only
be obtained by barter) and the transport service between the coast and Lake
Xyasa, in addition to the ordinary Missionary work ; so it was resolved, in
Scotland, to found a small Company for trade and transport, subsequently
styled "The African Lakes Company," which would be affiliated to the
Missions (in so far that its employes should be required to do a certain amount
of missionary work), but be conducted independently and on a commercial
basis. Two brothers, John William Moir and Frederick Maitland Moir, were
sent to Nyasaland as joint managers. They had been previously at work in
the employ of the late Sir William Mackinnon, on a road to Lake Tanganyika
which that philanthropist intended to construct inland from Dar-es-Salam,
opposite Zanzibar. The headquarters of the Lakes Company were fixed at
' Mr. Herbert Rhodes was a brother of Mr. (now the Right Honourable) Cecil j. Rhodes, and had
Cfjme to Nyasaland to shoot big game. He accompanied Consul hlton as far as the north end of Lake
Nyasa, and then returned to the Upper Shire, where he established himself for some time shooting
elephants. He gained a great reputation amongst the natives for bravery and fair dealing, and is
.still spoken of by the older men at the present day under the name of ** Roza." He was burned to death
in 1880 by the accidental setting on fire of his hut.
68 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
** Mandala " (now a suburb of Blantyre), about one mile from the headquarters
of the Church of Scotland Mission. Mr. John Moir built a substantial house
there, which still endures ; and as he wore spectacles he was called by the
natives " Mandala," a name meaning ** glass.'* This nickname was soon applied
to his residence, and gradually came to mean both the African Lakes Company,
and the place where they settled near Blantyre. Mandala is now the official
name of the headquarters of the African Lakes Company and of an important
suburb of Blantyre.
The Church of Scotland Mission in those days — that is to say at the end of
the seventies — was under the direction of two able -men, the Rev. Alexander
Duff and the late Mr. Henry Henderson, the latter being the business manager
and the principal lay member; but it had attached to it also certain lay
members who were either badly chosen, or who developed into bad characters
when they came into contact with African savagery. It is only necessary to
specify one of these — George Fen wick — whose name cannot be ignored in the
history of this Protectorate. These men soon began to treat the natives with
great harshness, and taking advantage of the dread in which white men were
held, to bully and extort, and raise themselves almost to the position of petty
chiefs. Indeed, in reviewing all that has happened since - Europeans settled
in this part of Africa, I have been increasingly struck with the rapidity with
which such members of the white race as are not of the best class, can throw
over the restraints of civilisation and develop into savages of unbridled lust and
abominable cruelty. These lay members of the Mission attempted to exercise
a kind of jurisdiction over the natives in the vicinity of the Mission stations,
and so severe were their punishments that one native was sentenced to death
and was shot, while other natives actually died from tjie awful floggings
they received. Two English sportsmen, returning from Nyasaland, conveyed
the news of these outrages to the consular authorities io Portuguese East
Africa ; the Foreign Office took up the matter, and eventually the Church
of Scotland Mission sent out commissioners to hold an enquiry into the
charges. Mr. Nunes, H. M. Vice-Consul at *^Quelimane, represented Her
Majesty*s Government on this enquiry, which resulted in the charges being
in great measure proved.^ The ordained minister who was at the head of the
Mission at Blantyre resigned ; though no blame was imputed to him, as he did
not possess the means of controlling the actions of his subordinates. But after
what had occurred he preferred to withdraw from the Mission* Mr. John
Buchanan also at this time left the Mission, and set up for himself in-
dependently, as a coffee planter. George Fenwick and other lay members
of the Mission, who were implicated in the deeds* referred to, were dismissed,
and the first-mentioned went to live among the natives as an elephant hunter
In 1 88 1 the Revs. D. C. Scott and Alexander Hetherwick came out to Africa
and took charge of the Church of Scotland Mission, implanting on its work
a very different character to the ill-fame which had temporarily clouded its
earlier days owing to the misdeeds of its lay assistants. The indirect result,
however, of the increasing British settlement in Nyasaland^ was to induce Her
Majesty's Government to establish a British Consul for Nyasa, and in 1883
* The evidence gathered by this commission makes very painful reading, and further ex|)atiation on
this subject is tieither necessary nor desirable.
* See an excellently written book called Africaiia^ by the Rev. Alexander Duff (Sampson Low & Co.)
— one of the best books ever written on Africa.
^ By this time the African Lakes Company had placed their small steamer. The Lady Nyasa^ on the
Zambezi.
HISTORY 69
Capt. Foot, R.N., went to Blantyre with his wife and children, taking with him
Mr. D. Rankin as private secretary.
During all these years the Makololo chiefs had become increasingly powerful.
At first they had seemed disposed to welcome the British, but there were times
when they became arrogant and exacting in their demands. Still, on the
whole, they were a valuable counterpoise to the aggressive Yao, some of whom
became highway robbers and rifled the Mission and African Lakes Company's
caravans. There were two of the Makololo chiefs specially prominent —
Ramakukane and Chipatula. Ramakukane was seemingly of real Makololo
origin, and had been the son of a chief or headman in the Barutse country,
who had accompanied Livingstone back to Nyasaland, after his second visit
to the Barutse country. Chipatula was one of Livingstone's old porters.
Ramakukane was established fit Katunga on the Central Shire, and Chipatula
at or near the modem Chiromo, where the river Ruo joins the Shire, and where
the present Anglo-Portuguese boundary runs. Ramakukane was, on the whole,
friendly to the Europeans. Chipatula chiefly concerned himself in repelling
the attempts of the black Portuguese from the Zambezi to establish themselves
as slave traders on the Shire. He not only kept these half-castes at bay, but
even extended his rule far down the Shire towards the Zambezi. The George
Fenwick of whom I have made mention, after leaving the service of the
Mission had set up for himself as a trader and elephant hunter. He was a
headstrong, lawless man, who inspired fear and admiration alternately, in the
minds of the natives. He had had several commercial transactions in selling
ivory for Chipatula, and visited that chief at Chiromo in 1884 to settle accounts
with him. Both men had been drinking spirits ; Chipatula refused to accept
Fenwick s version of accounts and applied opprobrious terms to him. Fenwick
started up in a rage and shot Chipatula dead. Before the chiefs astonished
followers could take any action he rushed out of the hut towards the river
shore, and shouted to them, " Yoiir chief is dead, I am your chief now," but
seeing that the natives were rather more inclined to avenge Chipatula s death
than to adopt his slayer as his successor, he got into a canoe at the river side,
and paddled across the river to Malo Island. Here for three days he led a
wretched existence attempting to defend himself from the attacks of the
natives. He was at last overcome and killed, and his head was cut off*. The
Makololo chiefs then became quite inimical to the white settlers. They shot
at and sunk the little steamer Lady Nyasa, and they sent an insolent message
to Blantyre, demanding that Mrs. Fenwick, the wife of the adventurer, should
be delivered over to them, together with an enormous sum as compensation
for the death of Chipatula. Consul Foot finally succeeded, with the help of
Ramakukane, in restoring peace, and Mr. John Moir recovered the Lady Nyasa,
Consul Foot, however, died not long afterwards from the effects of the fatigue
and anxiety he had undergone. Chipatula was succeeded by a man named
Mlauri, also one of Livingstone's men, but not friendly to the British ; and old
Ramakukane died. The demeanour of the Makololo as the years went by
became increasingly insolent and hostile towards the Europeans, English as
well as Portuguese.
In 1 88 1 a fresh element of British influence had appeared on the shores
of Lake Nyasa, in the arrival of the Rev. W. P. Johnson and Mr. Charles
Janson, of the Universities Mission to Central Africa — that Mission whose first
bishop, Mackenzie, had died near Chiromo on the Shire in 1862. It will be
remembered that the Universities Mission had been founded at the instance
70 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
of Livingstone, but after establishing itself in the Shire highlands in 1862 had
been obliged to quit that country owing to the hostilities shown by the Yao.
Since that time the Mission had concentrated itself at Zanzibar, and had
founded stations on the East Coast of Africa. That really great man, Bishop
Steere, the third of the Missionary bishops to Central Africa, had set his heart
on reopening work in Nyasaland. He walked overland from the Indian
Ocean to the east coast of the lake. Subsequently Lake Nyasa was reached
by the Rev. W. P. Johnson, accompanied by Mr. Charles Janson. The latter
fell ill, and died on the shores of Lake Nyasa In his will he bequeathed a
sum of money for the construction of a Mission steamer to be placed on the
lake. Other subscriptions were raised, and eventually the Charles Janson was
launched on Lake Nyasa, where she still exists. The Rev. Chauncey Maples
and other recruits from the Mission had meantime joined Mr. Johnson. Bishop
Steere had been succeeded by Bishop Smythies,^ who if anything took an
increased interest in the establishment of his Mission on Lake Nyasa, to which
lake he paid repeated visits. The Rev. Chauncey Maples was made Arch-
deacon of Nyasa.2 Seeing the troublous condition of the Yao countries, and
the shores of Lake Nyasa, where the unfortunate A-nyanja inhabitants were
alternately raided by Magwangwara,* Arabs and Yao, the Universities Mission
resolved to establish its headquarters on the Island of Likoma, which is distant
about eight miles from the east coast of Lake Nyasa, and consequently is not
so subject to the attacks of the Magwangwara or Yao.
The Livingstonia Mission under the able guidance of Dr. Robert Laws, M.D.
had been for years making steady progress on the west coast of Lake Nyasa,
Their first experiments at Cape Maclear,* a promontory which divides the
southern end of the lake into two gulfs, were not very successful. The settle-
ment of Livingstonia, — which still exists but where only native adherents of
the Mission dwell at the present time, — proved to be extremely unhealthy for
Europeans, and many missionaries died there. Dr. Laws decided, therefore,
to transfer the headquarters of the Mission to Bandawe, about midway up the
west coast of the lake, a place in the middle of the Atonga country. Here the
Free Church Mission was confronted with an immediate difficulty in the shape
of the Angoni-Zulu of the interior, who were gradually exterminating and
enslaving the indigenous people of the lake-coast, known as the Atonga, who
were related in origin to the A-nyanja stock. The Free Church Mission,
therefore, set itself to work to conciliate the Angoni, and obtained such
influence over them, after some years, that they stopped to a great extent their
raids over the coast people. At any rate the Mission stations served as a
harbour of refuge for the harried Atonga, who were eventually able to recover
their position and assert themselves against the invaders.
About the end of the seventies the London Missionary Society resolved
to take up Tanganyika as a sphere of work. Their journeys thither were made
overland from Zanzibar ; but when they decided to have a steamer placed
on Tanganyika they found it easier to send its sections by the Lake Nyasa
route. The explorer, Joseph Thomson, had reached the north end of Lake
Nyasa in 1880, and had journeyed thence to Tanganyika. This exploration
^ Died at sea on his way back to England in 1 894, worn out by ten years of incessant toil and physical
fatigue.
* Became Bishop of Likoma in 1895, ^-"^ was drowned in Lake Nyasa a few months after^vards by
the capsizing of his boat in a storm.
•* A section of the Angoni-Zulu. established east of I^ke Nyasa.
"* Named by Livingstone after the Astronomer- Royal of Cape Town.
HISTORY - 71
had assisted in fixing the relative position of the two lakes and showing that
the land transit between them did not much exceed 200 miles. The African
Lakes Company were entrusted with the contract for conveying the London
Missionary Society's steamer from Nyasa to Tanganyika, an enterprise success-
fully accomplished in 1885. Mr. James Stevenson, a director of the Lakes
Company, was struck with the idea of making a permanent road from lake
to lake, and subscribed a sum of, I believe, ;f 2000 or ;£'3000, for the purpose
of making preliminary surveys. The Stevenson road, however, was never
completed, but the route it was to follow was roughly cleared for about sixty
miles from Lake Nyasa. The engineers concerned in this work died of fever,
and further operations were checked by the outbreak of war with the Arabs.
The London Missionary Society did not, at first, think much of the Lake
Nyasa route to Tanganyika, but preferred the overland journey from Zanzibar.
They therefore devoted their attention more to the middle portion of the lake,
especially the west coast opposite to Ujiji, and established themselves here
on the island of Kavala. The unhealthiness of this place, however, and the
troubles which began to arise on Tanganyika after the first Belgian expeditions,
and from the subsequent uprising against the Germans, obliged the London
Missionary Society's agents to alter their plans. They transferred their
establishments to the south end of the lake, in order to be brought into more
direct communication with the British .settlements in Nyasaland.
The first serious danger which may be said to have menaced the infant
settlements in Nyasaland, was the trouble with the Makololo chiefs, to which I
have already referred. The next danger, and a much more serious one,
arose from the conflict with the Arabs who had settled at the north end of
Lake Nyasa. When Livingstone and Kirk first explored Lake Nyasa they
practically only found the Arabs established in a few places — at one or other
of the ports on what is now the Portuguese coast of Lake Nyasa, and at
Kotakota on the western shore of the lake ; ^ at which latter place Livingstone
visited an Arab settlement under the control of a person called "Jumbe,"
who was a coast Arab, and a representative or wali of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Jumbe means "prince" on the mainland opposite Zanzibar, and the Sultan had
no doubt chosen as his representative a man who went to Nyasa for trade
purposes principally, but who was of sufficiently good standing to exercise
some show of authority, in the Sultan's name, over the Arabs wandering in
those regions. When I use the term " Arabs " I mean both Arabs with white
skins of pure blood (and usually natives of 'Oman or of Southern Arabia)
and every degree of intermixture and type between the Arab and the negro,
so that some of our so-called Arabs in Nyasaland are quite black, though in
the shape of their features or in their beards, they may retain traces of the
intermixture of a superior race. But all these so-called Arabs are sharply
distinguished from the ordinary negroes by dressing in Arab costume, using the
Arabic language, and by being stricter and more intelligent in their practices
of the Muhammadan religion.
The first interference of the Arabs with Nyasaland was merely to secure
a passage across the lake in their caravan journeys to the countries of Senga,
Lubisa, and Luwemba, which journeys were undertaken for ivory, or slaves, and
had commenced, as I have already related, by their following back into South
Central Africa the Babisa caravans that formerly traded with Zanzibar. The
* ** Ngotangota " — as the natives call it, the Arabs having corrupted the name into the easier pronun-
ciation of Kotakota.
72
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Arabs, however, soon established themselves in strong stockades in the Senga
country, through which the great Luangwa River flows. Then they began
to adopt, as an alternative route to the journey across Lake Nyasa, the direct
journey from Zanzibar overland across the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau ; and
gradually the strong Arab dominion on Lake Tanganyika became connected
with the settlements in the Senga country and on Lake Nyasa. The Arabs
had also found a friend and ally in Merere, an
intelligent and enterprising chief of the Wa-sango
people, who had his capital in the high mountainous
region to the north of Lake Nyasa. In their journeys
to and. fro between Senga and the sea coast, by way
of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, the Arabs became
struck with the magnificent fertility and the wealth
in cattle of the Nkonde country at the north end of
Lake Nyasa. A certain Zanzibar Arab, named Mlozi,^
appears to have commenced by trading in the country,
L^VK ^B and gradually proceeded to surround his trade estab-
^^k^^^^ ^ lishments with stockades and by degrees take forcible
^H^L 1 possession of this delectable land. Mlozi had, with
^^^H ( several other* Arabs, established strong trading stations
^^^H r-— in the Senga country, and was almost a prince among
L. MONTEiTii FOTHERiNGHAM slave traders. But Mlozi's schemes were not to be so
easily accomplished. Prior to his settlement in the
Nkonde country, or simultaneous with it at any rate, the Lakes Company had
obtained a footing at Karonga for the purpose of opening up communication
with Lake Tanganyika.
The Lakes Company had employed amongst other Europeans two notable
men to conduct the expeditions which transported the London Missionary
Society's steamer in sections from Nyasa to Tanganyika. These men were
Low Monteith Fotheringham and John Lowe Nicoll. Mr. Fotheringham had
become finally their agent at Karonga, on the north-
west coast of Lake Nyasa, while Mr. Nicoll was chiefly
employed on Tanganyika and in going backwards and
forwards between Nyasa and Tanganyika. Fothering-
ham was a man of very strong character and upright
disposition, severe occasionally with the natives in
maintaining the laws which he laid down for the
maintenance of order, but of great bravery, and
absolutely just in his dealings. No qualities ensure
a man greater favour amongst the negroes than
mingled firmness and justice ; and the natives of the
north end of Lake Nyasa, the Mambwe of the Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau, and the Atonga of West Nyasa,
came by degrees to look upon Mr. Fotheringham ^ as
their natural leader and champion. The Arabs under
Mlozi began to press their rule on the Nkonde people.
The Wankonde looked to Fotheringham for advice and protection. Fothering-
ham was at first disinclined to interfere in the quarrels, as he feared that the
^ Mlozi means in Swahili '* an almond tree " ; but I expect the real derivation of the word is
from Mulozi (= a sorcerer) in the dialects spoken in the Senga and Bisa countries.
* Whom they called Montisi, from an Africanising of his second name.
JOHN LOWE NICOLL
HISTORY
73
results of a fight with the Arabs might seriously prejudice the Lakes Company's
position, and cut off communication with Lake Tanganyika ; but he was not
long left the choice of remaining neutral, for the Arabs appear to have come to
the conclusion that the conquest of all the Nkonde country was impossible
until they had first driven out the British traders and Missionaries ; for two
missionaries, the Rev. Mr. Bain and Dr. Kerr Cross,^ had already settled at the
north end of Lake Nyasa in the service of the Free Church Mission. Of
course much of the friction that had arisen between the Arabs and the Lakes
Company's agent came from the undoubted sympathy which the British traders
showed for the Wankonde in their hopeless struggle against the Arab forces.
One fact may be cited in particular as an example of the atrocious way in
GROUP OF WANKONDE ^NORTH NYASA)
which the Arabs conducted this war of conquest. The Wankonde, who were
entirely and only armed with spears, had been defeated in an engagement with
the Arabs, and took refuge on the banks of the Kambwe lagoon, on the shore
of Lake Nyasa. The Arabs surrounded them, set fire to the dry reeds, and
compelled the wretched Wankonde to enter the water, where hundreds of them
were devoured by crocodiles, and large numbers w^ere shot, stabbed, or
drowned.^ Several refugees from this and other fights found their way into the
Lakes Company's station, which was then unfortified. Mr. Fotheringham's
refusal to give them up and his answering the Arab threats by commencing to
fortify Karonga were no doubt the causes which decided the Arabs to make
an attack on the Karonga station. Fortunately before this attack took place
^ Dr. Kerr Cross is slill serving as a medical missionary in this part of Africa, where he has done
great good amongst the natives, as well as having nursed into recovery many sick Europeans.
^ For a faithful description of these horrors see pp. 80, 81, and 82 of the late Mr. Fotheringham's
lxx>k Adventures in Nyasaland (Sampson Low).
74
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
reinforcements were received. Mr. Nicoll arrived from Tanganyika and the
little steamer Ilala returned from South Nyasa bringing Consul O'Neill, of
Mozambique, and Mr. Alfred Sharpe and two other gentlemen who had decided
to come to the rescue of the Europeans threatened by the Arabs.
Karonga was attacked and besieged for days though the Arabs were
finally repulsed after desperate fighting ; but eventually the British position
became untenable, and after communicating the
news of his dangerous situation to the Manager
at Mandala, Mr. Fotheringham, Mr. Nicoll, and
the others who had joined them, decided to with-
draw with the Wankonde chiefs into a part of
the country where they would be better sheltered
from the Arab attack. They removed most of
their goods in canoes, abandoned the station at
Karonga, and remained in the country at the
extreme north end of the lake until reinforce-
ments arrived. Amongst the volunteers who
came to their aid, were Mr. Consul Hawes and
Mr. John Moir. The arrival of these slight
reinforcements and the aid of five thousand
natives enabled Mr. Fotheringham to attack.
JOHN W. MOIR
enter, and partially destroy Mlozi's stockade at
Mpata (in which attack both Mr. Alfred Sharpe
and Mr. John Moir were wounded). But the native allies abandoned the
stockade after having loaded themselves with loot and the whites had to
retreat without consummating their defeat of the Arabs by the destruction
of all their stockades. After this all the volunteers returned to South
Nyasa and Messrs. Fotheringham, Nicoll, and Kerr Cross lived for a time
at Chirenje, to the north-west of Karonga, while the Arabs regained to some
extent their former position, though they never were able actively to assume the
offensive. Early in March, more volunteers returned to North Nyasa. With
them came Mr. John Buchanan (Acting Consul) and Mr. Fred Moir, joint
manager of the Lakes Co. Mr. Buchanan attempted
to negotiate a peace with the Arabs, but the negotia-
tions had no result. Hostilities were then resumed,
but Mr. Fred Moir was severely wounded, and again
owing to the vacillation of their native allies the British
failed to score any great success.
When the news of this fighting at the north end of
Lake Nyasa reached the outer world, several gentlemen
volunteered to assist the Lakes Company, the principal
among these being Capt. Lugard,^ who was constituted
by the Lakes Company the Commander of their forces
in North Nyasa. Capt. Lugard was subsequently re-
joined by Mr. Alfred Sharpe,^ by Mr. Richard Crawshay
(who had also come to the country as a hunter), by Mr. John Moir, and others.
* Now Major Lugard, c.B.
Now Her Majesty's Deputy Commi.ssioner and Consul. Mr. Sharpe originally came to Nyasaland
to hunt elephants and big game, but hearing of the Lakes Company's distress he came to their assistance
with Consul O'Neill in the manner above related. After being wounded and proceeding to the
south to recover he returned with Captain Lugard and fought out the rest of the cami:)aign, marching
up overland at the head of a large number of Atonga.
FREDERICK MAITLAND MOIR
HISTORY
75
Mr. Frederick Moir, whose arm had been severely wounded, had returned to
Scotland to recover his health. From thence he succeeded in sending out a
7-pounder gun, as it was felt the Arabs could only be adequately fought
with artillery. But unfortunately, although this gun ultimately reached its
destination, it was not provided with the right kind of ammunition. Its
MR. ALFRED SHARPE IN 189O
shells merely drilled round holes in the tough stockades which, being made of
withes and mud, did not offer sufficient resistance for a real breach to be made.
A good deal of damage was done to the Arabs who were shut up in their
fortresses and much inconvenienced for lack of food, but the British;'on the
other hand, suffered severely, having one of their officers killed and several
more or less severely wounded, besides the terrible ill-heMth which resulted
from fighting during the rainy season. Amongst the wounded was Captain
Lugard who returned to Blantyre, got his wound partially healed, and then
76 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
once more took command at Karonga. Captain Lugard finally quitted Nyasa-
land in the spring of 1889, finding it impossible to bring the Arab war to
a conclusion without disciplined troops and efficient artillery.
An attempt was made by Sir Charles Euan-Smith, Her Majesty's Consul-
General at Zanzibar, to induce the Sultan of that place to intervene, and to
bring the war to a conclusion by compelling the Arabs to come to terms
with the British. The Sultan accordingly dispatched an envoy, but he
commanded very little weight in the councils of the Senga Arabs, who
considered themselves quite independent of the Sultan's authority.
The consequences of this war with the Arabs, which was clearly known
by the natives of Nyasaland to be a war for the suppression of the slave
trade, aroused a good many expressions of ill-feeling against the English on
the part of the Muhammadan Yao on the east coast of Lake Nyasa. Mr.
John Buchanan, who had been Acting Consul since the departure on leave
of Mr. Hawes, attempted to open up friendly relations with Makanjira, the
Yao chief on the south-east coast of the lake. He paid him a visit with the
Rev. W. P. Johnson, in the Mission steamer, the Charles Janson, To their
surprise, however, they had no sooner landed than they were seized, stripped
of their clothes, and grossly maltreated They were imprisoned in huts,
and Makanjira announced his intention of killing them, and would probably
have done so, but for the persuasion of some Zanzibar Arabs, who represented
that their deaths would certainly be avenged, and that the Sultan of Zanzibar
would hold them — the intercessors — responsible, after what had occurred, if
English subjects were killed in their presence, and without remonstrance on
their part. Makanjira accordingly held his captives up to ransom. They
were obliged to write to the engineer of their steamer, which was in the
offing, to send on shore an enormous supply of trade goods and ship's
stores. When these things arrived Makanjira released them, though he
neither restored their clothes nor the personal property of which they had
been robbed. Mr. Buchanan, the Acting Consul, had even been whipped
with a chikote^ by Makanjira s orders — not severely, but just with two or
three stripes to show his contempt for the British.
After a little vacillation the Arabs of Tanganyika had decided not to join
with their fellow countrymen in the war against the British, and indeed after
a little more deliberation, that section under the orders of Tiputipu^ had
determined to protect the British missionaries on Lake Tanganyika from
violence at the hands of any other Arabs who might, in consequence of their
uprising against the Germans, have resolved to assassinate all Europeans
in the interior. Likewise the Arab settlement at Kotakota, which was under
the third in succession of '* Jumbes," who continued to be the wali of the
Sultan of Zanzibar, resolved to remain neutral. Generally speaking, it may
be said that at this crisis the influence of the Sultan of Zanzibar was exercised
strongly in favour of the British. Had he not compelled peace and a good
understanding with them, all the Arabs of Central Africa would have gladly
united in a war to drive us out of Lake Nyasa, and would have doubtless
succeeded in doing so, as in those days owing to difficulties with the Portuguese,
it was found very difficult to import supplies of guns and ammunition.
The general situation in British Central Africa, before I was personally
connected with its fortunes, was as follows.
^ A whip of hippopotamus hide.
^ Whom, of course, the British w/7/call " Tippoo-tib."
HISTORY -j-j
In the Barutse country, a strong kingdom of large extent, existed a ruling
caste of Bechuana (who had first organised the territories on the Upper
Zambezi into a large kingdom, and had been subsequently dispossessed of
power to some extent by revolution) and the descendants of the old rulers,
who were of Baloi, or Balui, stock. These latter had replaced in sovereign
power the Bechuana ^ kings. But otherwise the government of the Upper
Zambezi countries in their political tendencies remained much what it was
in the days when Livingstone first discovered Barutseland. Eastwards of the
Barutse country, the lands of the Bashikulombwe, of the Batonga and Manika,
remained in a state of utter barbarism, fiercely recalcitrant to European
researches. Little was known of the country since the explorations of Kirk
and Livingstone; Dr. Emil Holub, an Austrian explorer, had been repulsed;
Mr. Selous, who had penetrated farthest into this part of Central Africa, was
attacked and obliged to fly for his life; and Jesuit Missionaries had either been
maltreated, killed, or expelled, in their attempts to penetrate these countries.
On the lower part of the great Luangwa river, the country was harried by black
chieftains from the Zambezi, who called themselves " Portuguese," on the
strength of remote Goanese descent. In the Senga and Lubisa countries.
Arabs and Swahilis were carrying on the slave trade, and gradually establishing
themselves in the land by means of building stockaded towns. At the south
end of Lake Tanganyika there were one or two missionaries settled and
building. At the north end of Lake Nyasa a war between Arabs and Scotch
traders had been going on for two years. Missionaries were peacefully at work
in West Nyasaland, but on the east coast of the lake their work was
paralysed by the hostility of Makanjira. The Yao, who, since Livingstone's
first arrival in the country, had gradually conquered much of the Shire
Highlands, and had established themselves at the south end, and along the
south-east and south-west coasts of Lake Nyasa, were engaged, either in
incessant civil war amongst themselves, in attacks on their weaker neighbours,
or in hostilities against the British, ^n thp Sb'^e Highlands coffee-planting had
oijyQriy >v>giin wryAf^r ]V[r Burhanan, -who-hftd" -been joined^, by. twa ci Jiis
brothers, and under Mr^ Sharrer, a .British subject of German descent, who
had established hjjn^elf aa a. planter and trader in Nyasaland. In the Shire""
Highlands the missionaries of the Church of Scotland Mission had acquired a
considerable influence, an influence justly due to their high character and their
devotion to the interests of the natives, but an influence which at that time
they were too much inclined to exercise with the view to governing the country
themselves, independently of Consuls or other representatives of Her Majesty.
The rival to the Scotch Missionaries, as a governing body, was the African
Lakes Company, which was half hoping for a Charter, and was striving to
obtain from the native chiefs a concession of governing rights. Sometimes
the interests of the Lakes Company and the Mission were conflicting, and
not infrequently the two or three independent planters could agree with neither.
The Universities Mission was supposed to hold the opinion that the war with
the Arabs was unwise, and owing to its friendly relations on the lake with
the Arabs more or less attached to the Sultan of Zanzibar, that Mission
did not identify itself with any movement for the expulsion of the Arabs
from Nyasaland. A French Evangelical Mission had established itself in
the Barutse country, and was acquiring a very great influence over the natives. -
The seat of this Mission, however, lay in British South Africa, and so far
' ».tf., Makololo. ^ An influence always used for disinterested and proper ends.
78
BRITIS:H central AFRICA
as these French Missionaries had any political sentiments at all they were
on the side of bringing the Barutse under British influence. The history of
Barutseland is only artificially connected with the rest of British Central
Africa, by the fact that at present it is included within the same political
sphere. Otherwise its history is mainly connected in the past with that of
British South Africa, and in the future it will unquestionably become an
appanage of that portion of the Empire.^
The greatest difficulty which at that time hampered the development of the
eastern part of British Central Africa, was the fact that it could only be
approached from the outer world through Portuguese East African Possessions.
In those days, anyone wishing to proceed to Lake Nyasa, and shirking the
overland journey from Zanzibar, which was lengthy, arduous, and often full
of risk, landed at Quelimane, a little to the north of the Zambezi delta,
journeyed up the Kwakwa River in small boats to a point called Mopeia, then
crossed overland, a distance of three or four miles, to Vicenti, a trading station
on the Zambezi. At Vicenti one was met by either of the African Lakes
Company's two steamers, the James Steifenson or the Lady Nyasa y and so
travelled on up the Zambezi and up the Shire, as far as the season of the year,
and consequent depth of the waters would permit, and thence overland
to the British settlements. This route, however, compelled travellers to land
at the Portuguese port of Quelimane ; and even assuming the Kwakwa to be,
like the Zambezi, an international waterway, a fact which could not be asserted
and maintained, it was impossible to reach the waters of the Zambezi without
crossing a mile or so of Portuguese territory. No arrangement existed with
Portugal to secure us exemption from Customs duties or even graver
hindrances that might be placed in our way by the local Portuguese authorities,
and these authorities — bearing in mind that the boundaries of Portuguese and
British influence in the Hinterland had not yet been settled — were naturally
very jealous of this immigration of British subjects, the said British subjects
being never too careful of Portuguese rights and susceptibilities. It was this
difficulty with the Portuguese which had caused Her Majesty's Government
in 1863 to arrive at the conclusion that the Zambezi expedition of Livingstone
must be recalled. It was again this difficulty which hampered Her Majesty's
Government in the "eighties," in preventing them from affording active assistance
to the traders on Lake Nyasa in their war with the Arabs, and, indeed, in
formulating any decisive policy in regard to Nyasaland. Had it been possible
for vessels of fair size and draught to enter the river Zambezi from the sea,
all these difficulties from overland transport would have disappeared. Her
Majesty's Government had for some time past maintained the principle of the
freedom of navigation of the Zambezi, but although ships did occasionally
succeed in getting over the bar of the Kongone mouth — a bar on which at
low tide there was only a depth of 5 to 6 feet of water — the enterprise was too
uncertain to be often prosecuted, and the best proof of its impracticability lay
in the fact that the African Lakes Company had almost abandoned this way
into the Zambezi, and preferred to pay the heavy Customs duties of Quelimane
and submit to all reasonable restrictions on the part of the Portuguese, rather
than attempt to communicate with the Shire by means of the Kongone mouth
of the" Zambezi — an attempt indeed which they could only make at fitful
* Whereas, on the other hand, the history of the eastern half of British Central Africa, east of the
Kafue River, has always been mixed up with that of Zanzil^ar and the northern half of Portuguese P^sl
Africa.
HISTORY 79
intervals, and b\' specially chartering ocean-going steamers, as no established
Steamship Line would hear of calling in at the Kongone mouth as a matter
of course.
At this juncture a discovery of the greatest importance was made, which
completely altered the political aspect of the question. Mr. Daniel J. Rankin,
an explorer who had originally proceeded to Nyasaland as private secretary
to Consul Foot, and who had also acted in a Consular capacity at Mo(jambique,
was enabled by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society to institute an
exploration of the Zambezi delta. In the course of his journey he discovered
the Chinde mouth of the Zambezi, which apparently was quite unknown to the
Portuguese Government, though it had probably been first discovered by a
Portuguese planter who was working a concession in the delta. This planter s
information put Mr. Rankin on the track of his discovery, which he announced
to the world in the spring of 1889.^ It was briefly this, that the Chinde mouth
of the Zambezi possessed a bar shorter and safer and simpler than that of any
other outlet of the Zambezi, and with a minimum depth of water at high tide
of 17 feet (as against, say, 10 feet at the Kongone). At the time Mr. Rankin
sounded the bar, I believe he found a depth of water on it of 21 or 22 feet,
a depth which has several times since been recorded, but chiefly at that season
of the year when the river was visited by Mr. Rankin, namely when the
Zambezi is in full flood. Ordinarily the depth of water at high spring-tides
is 17 to 19 feet. Not only was the Chinde bar a far less serious obstacle
than that of any other mouth of the Zambezi, but its channel from the sea
into the main Zambezi was easier of navigation than the other branches of
that river. In its far-reaching political importance, probably no greater
discovery in the history of British Central Africa has been made than that
of the navigability of the Chinde River from the Indian Ocean to the main
Zambezi.
^ In the Times Newspaper.
ON THE CHINDE MOUTH OF THE ZAMBEZI
CHAPTER IV.
THE FOUNDING OF THE PROTECTORATE
ANY direct personal interest which I may have taken in the affairs of
Nyasaland dates from the commencement of 1884.
I had returned from a prolonged examination of the western basin
of the River Congo and my opinion was invited at the Foreign Office on certain
points connected with the proposed treaty with Portugal regulating the political
and commercial affairs of the Lower Congo.
This treaty contained a clause providing that Portuguese political influence
should cease in the direction of Nyasaland at the junction of the Ruo and
Shire rivers. Had the treaty been ratified this clause would have obviated any
further frontier disputes with Portugal, north of the Zambezi ; but owing to
unreasonable opposition in certain quarters it was not ratified, and then the
Berlin Conference was called to deal generally with questions affecting the
Congo and the Niger, and Zambezian affairs were postponed in their settlement.
The Portuguese were now free of any obligation in regard to Nyasaland, and
being an enterprising and ambitious people, determined once more to revive
their scheme of a trans-continental Empire from Angola to Mozambique,
including the southern part of what is now Central Africa. They were aided
in these assumptions by the remarkable journeys of their explorers, Capello
and Ivens.
Lord Salisbury's Ministry, however, had succeeded to power, and in several
speeches in the House of Lords the Premier could not conceal the interest that
he felt in the struggle going on between the Arabs and the African Lakes
Company, or his resolve to maintain Nyasaland as a country open to British
enterprise without the restrictions which would result from its transference
to any other European Power. Owing to the difficulty about a direct water
route into the heart of South Central Africa to which I have alluded in the
last chapter, I believe it was not the object of Her Majesty's Ministers in 1887
to establish any actual Protectorate over Nyasaland : they merely wished that
it should become neither German nor Portuguese, but be ruled by its native
chiefs, under the advice, it might be, of a British Consul, but in any case
that it should remain open to the British traders, planters and missionaries
without let or hindrance.
In 1888 I had returned from three years of Consular work in the Niger
Coast Protectorate, and in the summer of that year Lord Salisbury held a short
conversation with me at Hatfield in which he developed his views about
Zambezia. From this conversation I date, to a great extent, my own concep-
80
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 8i
tion of the policy to be pursued.^ In the autumn of 1888 I was offered and
accepted the post of Consul to Portuguese East Africa. At the beginning
of 1889 it was decided by the Foreign Office that I should travel in the interior,
and report on the troubles which had arisen with the Arabs, and above all with
the Portuguese ; and that in those districts admittedly beyond Portuguese
jurisdiction I should take measures to secure the country from abrupt seizure
by other European Powers, by concluding treaties of friendship with the native
chiefs, in which they bound themselves not to transfer their governing rights
to any European Power without the consent of Her Majesty's Government.
Before starting for my post, however, it was thought by Lord Salisbury that
I might, by personal intercourse with the Portuguese Authorities at Lisbon,
suggest some modus vivendi with regard to the settlement of our conflicting
claims. I, accordingly, spent some six weeks in Portugal, and in conjunction
with Her Majesty's Envoy, Mr., now Sir George, Petre, discussed the subject
of Nyasaland at the Portuguese Foreign Office. A draft arrangement was
drawn up, which after some modifications was shown to the Portuguese Minister
for Foreign Affairs, and approved by him. It was then submitted to the
English Foreign Office, but as it did not provide for the exclusion of the Shire
Highlands from the Portuguese Sphere it was not deemed acceptable by Her
Majesty's Government, as the chief object of any such arrangement at that
time was to secure the work of the English missionaries and planters from
interference. This arrangement might, however, have been modified in that
respect without difficulty on the part of the Portuguese, but the fact was that
the Government felt reluctant to push the matter to an immediate conclusion
in the face of two obstacles, one being the want of direct water communication
with the interior beyond the Portuguese Sphere, and the other, the difficulty
which would be experienced by the Imperial Government at that time, in
finding funds for incurring the great responsibility of administering the districts
bordering on Lake Nyasa, a territory that did not then promise much or, indeed,
any local revenue of its own. Two things now occurred to dispel Government
anxieties on these accounts : Mr. Rankin announced his discovery of the Chinde
mouth, and Mr. Cecil Rhodes arrived in England to obtain a Charter for his
Company. I made the acquaintance of Mr. Rhodes, and found him much
disposed to interest himself in the extension of British influence across the
Zambezi. As the result of several conferences Mr. Rhodes was able to assure
the Foreign Office that his proposed Chartered Company would find at least
;£" 10,000 a year, for several years, for the development and administration
of Nyasaland. Under these new circumstances, therefore, the Government
felt justified in attempting to secure for Great Britain a reasonable amount
of political influence over those countries of Central Africa, not claimed by
(iermany, Portugal, or the Congo Free State. The form of Treaty that was
drawn up was not, however, altered, as it was not intended to proclaim "any
Protectorate, if more indirect means of political supremacy could be attained.
It should, perhaps, be stated that the attention of Her Majesty's Government
had been drawn in the spring of 1889 to the imposing expedition which was to
be commanded by Major Serpa Pinto in Portuguese Zambezia.
Explanations had been asked for in Lisbon as to its eventual destination,
* What this conception was may be found in an article in the Times of August 22nd, i885, which it
may be interesting for some persons to re-read now as it was written at a time when such ideas as a British
dominion^ including an establishment on the shores of Tanganyika and through communication between
the Cape and Egypt had never before been specifically enunciated.
6
82 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
but the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs assured Her Majesty's Govern-
ment that Serpa Pinto would merely proceed to the Portuguese establishments
on the Upper Zambezi and on the Luangwa River, and would not enter
the debatable ground of the Shire Highlands. Consequently, as the Portuguese
claim to Zumbo and to the Lower Luangwa had not been contested — or
indeed their claims anywhere where occupation or political supremacy could be
shown — it was thought that if the Portuguese did not attempt to impose their
rule on any new lands where olir interests might be affected, no such direct step
as the establishment of a Protectorate on our part should be undertaken until
negotiations with Germany and Portugal had, more or less precisely, fixed
the limits of our political influence.
I started for Mozambique in the early summer of 1889. On my arrival
at that place the Foreign Office, at my request, appointed Mr. W. A. Churchill,^
Vice-Consul, so that I might be free to start on my journey to the interior,
without leaving Consular matters unattended to. Soon after I reached
Mozambique there arrived H.M.S. Stork, a surveying vessel commanded
by Lieut-Commander Balfour, R.N. The Stork had just returned from Chinde,
where it had been sent to verify Mr. Rankin's discoveries. The Commander
informed me that in his steam-launch he had passed up into the Zambezi, and
had found the channel all the way deep enough for even the Stork herself, and
the Stork was a vessel drawing 13 J feet. I felt that it would be good policy to
show that I had reached these regions of the interior, without necessarily
landing on Portuguese territory, so I obtained permission from the Government
to use the Stork for the conveyance of my expedition. At the same time the
authorities at Mozambique were made fully aware of the purposes I intended to
fulfil, namely the negotiation of a peace with the Arabs and the conclusion of
treaties of friendship with the local chiefs, who were not under Portuguese juris-
diction. The Governor asked me pointedly if I intended to proclaim a British
Protectorate, and I told him I was authorised to do nothing of the kind, so long
as Major Serpa Pinto or other Portuguese explorers took no political action
outside Portuguese territory. No difficulty whatever was placed in my way by
the Portuguese, whether or not they approved of my expedition. I think parti-
cular stress should be laid on this fact, as had Portugal been animated by really
hostile intentions to Great Britain, there were a hundred pretexts by which they
might have stopped my journey. So little need was there to preserve any
mystery about my operations, that instead of proceeding direct to Chinde,
I called in with the Stork at Quelimane, and there visited the Portuguese
officials, and communicated with the African Lakes Company. The Stork
crossed the bar of the Chinde mouth without difficulty, on the 28th of July,
1889, and steamed up the Chinde River into the main Zambezi, to the
unbounded astonishment of such few inhabitants as were on the banks, for
neither they nor any other people had seen so large a vessel enter the Zambezi
before. A short distance above the confluence of the Chinde with the main Zambezi
the Stork came to anchor, and we continued our journey in a flotilla of steam
launches and boats, by which means we finally came up with the African
Lakes Company's steamer, the James Stevenson, near Morambala, a very notable
mountain which is situated some twenty miles up the Shire River. My expedi-
tion consisted of Mr. J. L. Nicoll, formerly of the Lakes Company's service,^
whom I had engaged at Quelimane as an assistant ; All Kiongwe, my Zanzibari
headman, who had accompanied me on my journey to Kilimanjaro, and whom I
^ Now Consul at Moyanibique. '^ Just returning; from the Arab War.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
«3
had re-engaged at Zanzibar in 1889 ; and fifteen Makua, engaged with the con-
sent of the Portuguese authorities at Mo9ambique. The James Stevenson was a
river steamer of about forty tons burden, worked by a stern wheel, and with
fairly, comfortable cabin accommodation, and an upper deck. In this steamer
we pursued our course up the river, until we reached Serpa Pinto's camp,
which was a little distance below the confluence of the Ruo and the Shire. I
had been startled, on reaching Quelimane, to learn from the Portuguese officials
there, that Major Serpa Pinto, after journeying to Sena on the Lower Zambezi
with his expedition, had suddenly, and abruptly, deflected his course northwards
to the Shire, and was apparently making for the Makololo country, and the
Shire Highlands. Major Serpa Pinto had been
apprised of my coming, and when the James
Stevenson drew near he dispatched an officer and
a boat, so that I might land and see him. I found
Serpa Pinto surrounded by a staff of white officers,
and was informed that he had with him over seven
hundred Zulu soldiers.^
The Major received me in a little hut, and after
insisting on* my sharing his afternoon tea, we began
to discuss the political situation. He informed me
that he sought my intervention with the Makololo
people, to persuade them to allow him to pass un-
hindered through their country, as he was on his
way to Lake Nyasa in charge of a Scientific Expedi-
tion. " We go," he said, ** to visit that Portuguese
subject, Mponda, at the south end of Lake Nyasa." '^
I replied to Major Serpa Pinto, "If you are only in
charge of a Scientific Expedition, you need, at most,
an escort of fifty soldiers ; but the Makololo are sure
to view your journey with distrust if you attempt to
bring so large an armed force into the country ;
moreover, your Government has distinctly assured
us that the object of your mission was the Upper
Zambezi, and not the Shire. Consequently, if you
take any political action north of the Ruo, which we
consider, provisionally, to be the Portuguese limit,
you will oblige me, on my part, to go beyond my
immediate instructions and effectively protect the
interests of Her Majesty's Government. If you merely wish to pass through
the country for scientific purposes we will travel together, and I will do my
best to persuade the Makololo to offer no opposition."
Major Serpa Pinto did not give any very definite reply to these remarks
of mine, merely reiterating his hope that I would prevail on the Makololo
to offer no opposition to his passage ; otherwise he would be obliged to fight
them.
1 proceeded on my way in the James Steinmson^ and soon afterwards
* Many of these men were inhabitants of Gazaland and Inyambane, but a few of them were
undoubtedly Zulus, who had been recruited in Swaziland and in the vicinity of Delagoa Bay.
2 I was aware that the Portuguese had endeavoured by means of Senor Cardozo, the only Portuguese
explorer who had at that date reached the shores of Lake Nyasa, to conclude a treaty with Mponda,
but it was common knowledge that although he had received the Mission in a friendly way, he had i.ol
signed the treaty.
SERGT.-MAJOR ALI KIONGWB
84 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
we passed the junction of the Ruo and the Shire, and the steamer stopped
at Chiromo, on the north bank of the river Ruo. Here we found a large
native village, under two young chiefs, Mbengwa and Makwira, sons of
the Chipatula who had been killed by Fenwick. There was an English
trading station at Chiromo, belonging to two young English elephant
hunters, named Pettitt Whilst the steamer stopped at Chiromo, I saw
the two chiefs, and explained to them that they were not to take any-
aggressive action against the Portuguese, even if the latter crossed the
Ruo in force. In such a case as this they were to inform the Acting
Consul at Blantyre. From Chiromo we passed on up the River Shire,
through the Elephant Marsh, but as we approached nearer to the Makololo
settlements beyond the Elephant Marsh, the captain of the James Stevenson
became greatly perturbed as to the attitude which might be observed by the
powerful Makololo chief, Mlauri. Mlauri was no more friendly at that time
to the English than to the Portuguese. Towards the English he had been
very aggressive on account of his not having been recognised as supreme
chief of the Makololo. He had several times tried to get hold of the two
young chiefs of Chiromo, in order that he might kill them, and was furious
with the Pettitts and with a Mr. Simpson, an engineer in the service of the
Lakes Company, for having intervened to protect them. Mlauri in those
days occupied a strong position at Mbewe, a place some little distance
below Katunga, the termination of river navigation on the Lower Shire.
The set of the current compelled all steamers to pass close under the cliff
of Mbewe, and they were therefore completely at the mercy of Mlauri's guns,
and Mlauri was frequently in the habit of firing at the steamers to compel
them to stop, and either give him a present or await his good pleasure in
other respects. He had been the leading spirit in the sinking of the Lady
Nyasa at the time of the disturbance following the death of Chipatula, and
not having been punished for this his tyrannical obstructions to river navigation
were becoming unbearable.
As we neared Mbewe, we saw the banks lined with armed men. The
captain of the James Stevenson at first determined to steam by at full
speed, but the natives shouted from the banks that if we did not stop and
come to an anchor they would fire on us. I therefore advised the captain
to anchor his vessel at Mbewe, and determined to go on shore and interview
Mlauri, with the double object of protesting against his behaviour towards
the British steamers, and cautioning him about falling out with the Portuguese
The Rev. Alexander Hetherwick, of the Church of Scotland Mission, was a
fellow traveller with me on board the James Stevenson, and when he heard
of my intention to see Mlauri, he kindly volunteered his services as interpreter.
In those days I could speak nothing but Swahili, and although this language
might be partially understood by Mlauri, it was preferable to talk straight
to him in his own language — Chi-nyanja.
We landed amongst a jeering crowd of warriors, armed with guns, who
were rather inclined to hustle us, but eventually we found our way without
misadventure to the presence of Mlauri, who was seated in an open space on
a chair, with a gaudy blanket wrapped round his loins, and a tall white
chimney-pot hat on his head. He was surrounded by a semi-circle of warriors
and headmen, and directed us to be seated on some ricketty-looking camp
chairs placed opposite to him, evidently in readiness for our visit. On our
attempting to sit on the chairs they collapsed, and we fell to the ground amid
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
85
shouts of derisive laughter from the natives. After this I lost my temper, and
so severely rated Mlauri in Swahili that whether he understood the drift of
my words or not, he was convinced I was extremely angry, and being — like
most of these negro chiefs — a coward as well as a bully, he became quite
apologetic. When fresh and more secure seats had been brought for us I
explained to him — through Mr. Hetherwick — firstly, that these attempts to
obstruct the navigation of the Shire would get him into trouble with Her
Majesty's Government, and, secondly, that he had better not attempt to fight
the Portuguese if they forced their way through his country, but should leave
this matter to be decided between the two Governments. Mlauri replied,
discursively, giving as his reason for annoying the steamers that he was not
allowed to seize Chipatula's two sons, and that the English would not recognise
him as paramount chief of the Makololo. Also that he felt convinced that
we were in league with the Portuguese, and that all white men were equally
bad. He would, therefore, fight Major Serpa Pinto, unless the latter broke
up his camp and retired to the Zambezi.
I reiterated my advice to him, not to pursue such a course, and then
returned to the steamer, which was allowed to leave without further opposition
on the part of the natives. We soon reached Katunga's, which in some sense
is the port of Blantyre, that place being about twenty-five miles distant over
the hills. At Katunga I was met by Mr. John Buchanan, the Acting Consul ;
by the Rev. D. C. Scott, of the Church of Scotland Mission ; Mr. John Moir,
the Manager of the Lakes Company ; and by a trader whom I will call Mr. S.,
who was a British subject of German
origin. I explained to these gentle-
men the end that I had in view,
namely, to secure treaties of friendship
with the Makololo and Yao chiefs, but
not to declare a British Protectorate
if possible, unless the Portuguese
forced my hand, for I considered it
better to leave the ultimate decision as
to a Protectorate with Her Majesty's
Government, who would probably wait
till they had first negotiated a settle-
ment of boundaries with the Portu-
guese. Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Moir
were delighted at the idea of the
treaties of friendship, but a violent
opposition was declared thereto by
Mr. S., the trader, an opposition which,
at the time, I was totally unable to
understand, but which was made clear
to me afterwards by the discovery
that Mr. S. had, himself, attempted to conclude treaties with the native
chiefs, by which they were to yield to him their sovereign rights. He had
not, up to that time, succeeded in inducing them to do so, but he was
counting much on exploiting the ill-humour of Mlauri. It is not very clear
what were the intentions of Mr. S. — whether to start a Chartered Companx^
of his own, or, having acquired a sovereignty over the Shire Highlands, to
make terms for himself with either England or Germany, England being the
MR. JOHN BUCHANAN
86 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
country of his adoption, and Germany the land of his birth. I do not give
this gentleman's name in full, because, when the British Protectorate was finally
declared, he accepted it loyally. I only mention the incident here because
it was one which rather precipitated our political action.
A treaty of friendship was concluded by Mr. Buchanan at Katunga with
all the Makololo chiefs except Mlauri. Subsequently, when Mlauri had
received his first defeat at the hands of the Portuguese, he made a treaty
also with Mr. Buchanan.
Mr. Moir, the manager of the Lakes Company, had invited me to be his
guest at Mandala, near Blantyre, and had brought down a horse for me to
ride. In those days there were only two horses in British Central Africa;
one of these was ill, and the other lent to me was rather an unmanageable
beast. It had evidently been bored by the long delay in treaty-making at
Katunga, and was desperately anxious to return to the pleasanter climate of
Blantyre, so that when I mounted at Katunga station, it instantly bolted,
nearly beheading me in the low gateway which formed the entrance to the
station. Its frantic gallop was checked at the ascent to the hills, and I regained
command over it ; but soon afterwards the rotten leather bridle came to pieces,
and before I could clutch at the two ends they had fallen to the ground, the
horse had put his foot on them, snapping them off, and there I was on his
back, without any means of controlling him. He realised the situation, and
once more raced along the narrow path. I did not fall off, but entered
Blantyre more like Mazeppa than a well-conducted British official. In
passing through the various archways and tunnels covered with very thorny
roses, which diversified the garden approach to Mr. Moir's house, I could
only save myself from serious damage by lying as flat as possible on the
horse's back, with my arms round his neck. He made straight for his stable,
and at the fortunately closed door came to a dead stop. I rolled off liis back,
bleeding and bruised, and have always regarded that first ride from Katunga to
Blantyre as the greatest risk I ever ran in British Central Africa.
At Blantyre treaties were concluded with the Yao chiefs ; and I organised,
with the help of Mr. John Moir, my expedition to the north end of Lake
Nyasa. Before leaving for the lake, I made arrangements with Mr. John
Buchanan as to the course which should be pursued if the Portuguese attempted
to take forcible possession of the Shire Highlands. In such an event as this,
if the Portuguese crossed the Ruo in force and gave any evidence of an inten-
tion to occupy the country politically, Mr. Buchanan was to proclaim a British
Protectorate over the Shire province, between Lake Chilwa and the Kirk
Mountains of Angoniland, the River Ruo and Zomba Mountain. This step,
however, was not to be taken and Her Majesty's Government was not to be
pledged to a Protectorate over the Shire Highlands, unless there was no
option between such a proceeding and passively admitting the Portuguese
conquest of the country.^
Subsequent to my departure the following events took place. Major Serpa
Pinto advanced northwards, along the west bank of the Shire, and was attacked
by the Makololo ^ under Mlauri. Mlauri excused himself for this action after-
wards by complaining that the Portuguese on the east bank of the Shire had
* The Protectorate was proclaimed September 21, 1889, after the news of the first conflict between
the Portuguese and the Makololo (at Mpatsa, just below the Ruo) had reached Mr. Buchanan, who was
then trying to pacify the Makololo.
' November 8, 1889.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
87
been the aggressors, and had raided some of his villages. His attack, however,
was completely repulsed by the Portuguese, who inflicted upon him a very
sanguinary defeat. Up to this point Major Serpa Pinto had not crossed the
hypothetical boundary of English and Portuguese interests, which had been
once or twice mentioned to be the River Ruo, and a line — more or less parallel
with the confluence of the Ruo — drawn westward across the Shire. So far as I
am aware Major Serpa Pinto never crossed this line, but when brought face to
face with the question of doing so, and thereby bringing the Portuguese
Government into almost open conflict with the British, he left the expedition
MASEA AND MVVITU, TWO OF LIVINGSTONE'S MAKOLOLO
under the charge of Lieut. Coutinho, and proceeded to Mozambique for further
instructions. ^ In his absence, however, Lieut. Coutinho, whose attitude towards
Major Serpa Pinto may be described in Lady Macbeth's lines —
" Infirm of purpose ! Give me the dagger ! "
resolved to conquer the Shire province, and meet English remonstrances with
'eifait accompli. Hitherto all the other Makololo chiefs had followed my advice,
and had not joined Mlauri in attacking the Portuguese. Mlauri's action was
quite isolated, but Lieut. Coutinho had established a camp on the other side
of the River Ruo, facing Chiromo. The two young Chiromo chiefs were careful
to give no cause of offence to Lieut. Coutinho, who suddenly crossed the Ruo
and seized Chiromo. The Makololo withdrew before him, and he destroyed
their village and erected very strong fortifications on the small spit of land,
^ Arriving there l)ecenil)er 25, 1 889.
88 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
which is a peninsula, with the Shire on the one side and the Ruo on the
other.^
The Portuguese forces then marched up both banks of the Shire, driving
Mlauri before them. Prior to his first defeat at the hands of the Portuguese
Mlauri had concluded a treaty with Mr. Buchanan, but as the latter had
forbidden him to fight with the Portuguese, he was not encouraged, after his
defeat, to take refuge at Blantyre, whither all the other Makololo chiefs
proceeded. The Portuguese forces advanced as far as Katunga, and were
making preparations to occupy Blantyre, when the English Ultimatum to
Portugal brought matters to a standstill. I have always believed that the
Portuguese Government in Lisbon neither sanctioned nor approved this forcible
entry into the district in dispute between England and Portugal, and that they
even transmitted instructions to Major Serpa Pinto and others not to cross the
Ruo, if by so doing any conflict was likely to arise with British interests ; but
that their representative at Mozambique desired a bolder policy and acted far
beyond his instructions, and even in defiance of them : for at the time when the
Portuguese Government in Lisbon had assured Lord Salisbury that Major
Serpa Pinto had left for Mozambique, and that the expedition would proceed
no farther in the direction of the Shire Highlands, the Portuguese Governor-
General at Mozambique issued an official gazette announcing that the Shire
province had been annexed to the Portuguese dominions, and appointed Lieut.
Coutinho *' Governor of the Shire." These acts were annulled by the Portuguese
Government after they were brought to their knowledge by the Ultimatum, and
the Portuguese forces were withdrawn to the Portuguese side of the Ruo,
though they continued to exercise a strict control over the Shire navigation,
frequently stopping the British steamers and boats. At the same time, I think
it is only right, in historical justice to Portugal, to make it clear that although
this struggle for the possession of Nyasaland was a sufficiently acute question
to the Portuguese, and one in which they were passionately interested, no such
struggle for priority of rights was conducted with more fairness and even
chivalry. For instance, had Major Serpa Pinto been an unscrupulous man he
would have, on some pretext or another, stopped my small expedition, and
whilst detaining me on this pretext, have marched ahead and arbitrarily seized
the country, before anything could be done to preserve British interests. Again,
even after the Portuguese had advanced as far as Katunga, and occupied both
banks of the Shire river, between that place and Chiromo, they placed no
obstacle in the way of my return. On the contrary, the following incident
occurred between myself and Lieut. Coutinho, who had been appointed
*' Governor of the Shire." When I passed down that river on my return from
Tanganyika my boat was stopped by his orders and drawn into the bank by a
Portuguese sergeant. I was, at first, annoyed at what seemed to be an attempt
to arrest my progress towards the coast, but fortunately, before I could give
expression to my angry sentiments, Lieut Coutinho had met me on the bank,
and, raising his hat, said, " I have taken the liberty of stopping you so that you
might not miss your mail-bags which are here awaiting you. As you have had
^ Chiromo means "a big lip," from the word -romo, or -lotno, which in so many Bantu languages
mgans *' a lip." The chi- or ki- prefix in Chi-nyanja has the effect of an augmentative. Mromo means
'*a lip"; "Chiromo" means "a big lip." This chi- prefix, which becomes si- in Zulu, has in that
language ihe effect of a diminutive, consequently " Silomo," the Zulu name given to a well-known
member of Parliament by the Swazi Envoys, means '* a little lip," but is otherwise identical in origin with
the name of this place in Bfitish Central Africa, for a year such a bone of contention between England
and Poriugal.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 89
a long and arduous journey in the interior, and are also, I hear, short of
provisions, I have taken the liberty of making up this small supply for your
use on your way to Quelimane." Therewith he handed into the boat two
hampers, which contained not only a supply of champagne and other wines^
but all sorts of little luxuries very grateful to the jaded palate of a travel-weary
man. Then, giving me a letter to ensure my not being stopped on my way to
Quelimane, he bade me farewell. Upon my expressing my thanks very warmly,
he said, " We are both doing our best for our respective countries, and however
much our political views may differ that is no reason why one white man should
quarrel with another in Central Africa." This was indeed the keynote of the
Portuguese demeanour towards me, then and thenceforth, and I feel it only just
to place these facts on record, for I have been often vexed at the unjust
aspersions which have been cast upon the Portuguese in the British Press.
On my way up the Shire to Blantyre I had encountered Mr. Alfred
Sharpe, who was travelling up the river in his own boat. Knowing that a great
deal of ground would have to be covered in treaty-making, and that I should be
unable to reach all parts of British Central Africa myself, I desired to engage
some one who might suitably represent me in such portions of this territory
as lay outside my line of route, especially in Central Zambezia and the countries
between Nyasaland and the Barutse. The latter country had been placed under
the British flag by Mr. Rhodes's agents acting for the Chartered Company.
I had heard much of Mr. Alfred Sharpe from persons acquainted with
Nyasaland. He had taken a leading part in the war between the Arabs
and the Lakes Company, in which war he had been wounded. Mr. Sharpe,
who had been trained for the law, had held a Colonial appointment in Fiji for
some years, but when this appointment, in common with many others, was
abolished at a time when the state of Fiji finances compelled severe retrench-
ments, he had been offered a District Commissionership on the Gold Coast.
For a time, however, he preferred to travel and hunt in Central Africa. In
1890 Mr. Sharpe accepted employment under the British South Africa
Company, in whose service he remained about a year, securing for them many
important concessions north of the Zambezi. Early in 1891 he was appointed
H.M. Vice-Consul in British Central Africa.^ It had been arranged between
Mr. Sharpe and myself, before I quitted Blantyre for the north, that he should
proceed due westward to beyond the Portuguese dominions at Zumbo, and
secure to the British the Central Zambezi, and that afterwards he should make
treaties along the Luangwa River and, northwards, to Lake Mvveru and Lake
Tanganyika. All this he successfully accomplished. After passing into the
service of the British South Africa Company he made an expedition to
Katunga, but did not succeed in making a treaty, as the chief, Msiri, though
expressing a desire to remain on friendly terms with all white men, refused to
become subservient to any particular European Nation. Subsequently Msiri
similarly refused to make a treaty with Captain Stair's expedition, which repre-
sented the Congo Free State, and having assumed a hostile demeanour towards
the expedition he was shot by the late Captain Bodson, who himself was killed
immediately afterwards by Msiri's followers. His country was afterwards
annexed to the Congo Free State.^
' Consul in 1894; Deputy Commissioner in 1896.
* Msiri does not deserve much pity. He was a stranger to the country of Katunga, being merely
a Mnyamwezi slave trader who by the aid of an armed rabble of Wanyamwezi freebooters and coast Arabs.
had carved out a kingdom for himself in South Central Africa. He was a persistent slave raider and was
hated by the people over whom he ruled. These latter rallied to the Belgian authorities after Msiri's death.
90 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mr. Joseph Thomson in 1890 came out with Mr. J. A. Grant, on behalf of
the British South Africa Company, and supplemented Mr. Sharpe s work by
securing further treaties and concessions in the central region of British Central
Africa, but the main credit of having secured all this portion of our new
dependency to the British Flag emphatically lies with Mr. Sharpe, who
traversed the country with a following scarcely exceeding fifteen to twenty
men, and, by the weight of his personal influence only, secured these countries
to British interests, besides adding a great deal to our geographical knowledge.^
In rrty journey from Blantyre to Lake Nyasa along the Upper Shire, my
progress was beset with great difficulties owing to the civil war which was
raging between the Yao chiefs, Mponda and Msamara.
My assistant, Mr. Nicoll, took charge of that portion of the expedition
which travelled by water, whilst I marched overland. As we neared the south
■end of the lake we were stopped by Msamara's forces in the belief that we
were about to render assistance to Mponda. I managed, however, to pacify
Msamara by making a treaty of friendship with him, and months afterwards I
succeeded in patching up a peace between him and Mponda.
Mponda's reception of us was rather doubtful. He denied having concluded
any treaty with the Portuguese, but was averse to concluding even a treaty
of friendship with Great Britain, at any rate without the sanction of the Sultan
of Zanzibars representative on the lake — the Jumbe at Kotakota. Mponda
was a very repellent type of Yao robber, alternately cringing and insolent.
Had not the Universities Mission steamer arrived by good chance to give me a
passage to Likoma (where I was to see Bishop Smythies) I might have
been robbed and murdered by Mponda. As it was my retreat to the Mission
steamer was very like a flight. However, I got away safely with all my goods
and proceeded to the Island of Likoma. My object in seeing Bishop Smythies
was to obtain the use of the Charles Janson for a period, in order to enable me
to bring about peace with the Arabs. At that time the Lakes Company had
only one steamer plying on the lake, the little Ilala — which besides being
much out of repair, was too small for the conveyance of even my limited
expedition. The Bishop was good enough to place his steamer at my disposal,
for though the Universities Mission then and always declared its intention
of remaining absolutely neutral in political matters, they were anxious to do
all in their power to assist me to bring about peace between the Lakes
Company and the Arabs.
We then crossed to Bandawe on the west side of the lake. From this place
Mr. Nicoll proceeded direct to Karonga in the Ilala, bearing letters from me to
the North Nyasa Arabs. I remained some days at Bandawe, concluding
treaties with the Atonga chiefs. Then the Charles Janson called in and took me
down to a point fifteen miles distant from Jumbe*s capital at Kotakota, where
its commander landed my expedition on the lake shore. His reasons for not
proceeding to Kotakota arose from two considerations. One was that Jumbe,
after all, was an Arab and might make common cause with the north-end
Arabs and seize the steamer. The second was that at that time the harbour
at Kotakota was unsurveyed and was not thought to be safe for steamers
of considerable draught. I must admit that I landed, with AH Kiongwe, my
* The late Mr. Joseph Thomson's claims to fame and to our gratitude are so numerous that it is no
Itiss to him to spare a few laurel leaves to Mr. Sharpe. The treaty which Mr. Thomson made with
the Emperor of Sakatu on behalf of the Royal Niger Company, was alone a transcendent benefit to
British mterests never to be forgotten.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
91
headman, and my small expedition of fifteen Makua in some considerable
trepidation. The Lakes Company half feared that Jumbe was going to join
the Arab movement at the north end. At this time, too, all Arabs in Central
Africa were much incensed against Europeans by their quarrels with the
Germans and the Belgians. The way in which they would receive me, there-
fore, was very doubtful. Makanjira on the opposite coast had recently stripped
and flogged a British Consul and held him up to ransom, and no measures had
been taken to avenge this insult. After landing near the mouth of the Bua
river I sent AH Kiongwe ahead to interview Jumbe and to deliver to him the
letters that I had brought from the Sultan of Zanzibar. On my journey down
the east coast of Africa I had stopped at Zanzibar, and had conferred with the
late Sir Gerald Portal, then Acting Consul-General at that place, on the subject
OTTTSKIRTS OF KOTAKOTA
of my mission to Lake Nyasa. Mr. Portal (as he then was) had interested
himself very much in this undertaking to make peace with the Arabs, and
urged the Sultan Khalifa bin Said (whose own envoy previously dispatched
had been unsuccessful in bringing the Arabs to reason; to provide me with
the most authoritative letters to his representatives on Lake Nyasa, notably to
the Jumbe of Kotakota, who was the Sultan's ostensible wall, or representative.
The Sultan Khalifa willingly gave these letters, which were most potent in
effecting the subsequent results.
Some hours after AH Kiongwe had started for Kotakota, a Swahili soldier
of Jumbe's came rushing down into our camp, dropped on one knee and seized
me by the leg, as an act of homage. He then said, *' Master, do not be alarmed,
Jumbe sends us to greet the representative of the great Queen and of the
Sayyid of Zanzibar, and he has told us to fire a salute of guns in your honour.''
Shortly aftenvards a tremendous fusilade commenced, much to the alarm of my
porters, who had not understood the purport of Jumbe's message. We then
started for Kotakota, Jumbe's men insisting on carrying me in a machilla.^
Jumbe was waiting to receive me as I entered the town. A large house
and compound was set aside for my use. Oxen were killed for myself and
* Machilla is a Portuguese word (Latin Maxilla), which is universally applied in Eastern Africa to a
hammock or chair slung on a pole and carried by porters.
92
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
my men, and quantities of provisions of all kinds were sent in for our
sustenance. After a day's rest I had a long conversation with Jumbe, to
whom I exposed frankly the whole political situation. As .soon as I had
quitted the Shire River I had felt. free to take open political action, as
after my stay in Lisbon there had been a tacit understanding between
the Portuguese and ourselves that although the Shire province and a portion
of the east coast of Lake Nyasa were territories not to be seized by either
Power without arrangement, the west coast of Lake Nyasa was admittedly
open to British enterprise. I therefore
advised Jumbe, who was now practi-
cally recognised by the Sultan of
Zanzibar as an independent Prince,
to place his country under British
protection, and to mobilise a sufficient
number of his men to compel the
North Nyasa Arabs to agree to make
terms of peace ; and in the event of
their not so agreeing to place this
force at my disposal for their coercion.
Jumbe, in return for all these services,
was to receive a subsidy of ;6200 per
annum. The slave trade was to be
declared at an end in his dominions.
After one day's deliberation with his
head men, Jumbe assented to my
propositions. Treaties and agreements
were signed, the British flag was
hoisted, and the first portion of British
Central Africa was secured. I should
then have been picked up by the
I laid and conveyed to the north, but
unfortunately the Ilala, unknown to
me, had been wrecked in a storm,
and she did not resume her voyages
on the lake for several years after-
wards. Meantime I waited on and
on at Jumbe's. treated by that chief
with unwearied hospitality, though I
used up almost all his stock of candles,
and consumed all his supplies of tinned
fruits. The only thing I could offer
him in return for all his hospitality
was a bottle of yellow Chartreuse.
Jumbe wasa very strict Muhammadan,
especially on the subject of alcohol, but he suffered much from asthma. He
appealed to me repeatedly for medicine, and as I had no drugs with me I
was in despair, until it occurred to me that a small glass of Chartreuse might
at any rate distract his thoughts if it did not remedy the asthma. I gave
him a taste of what he called "the golden water." He at once declared
himself cured, and the least I could do was to hand him the entire bottle,
which he spent, I believe, several months in consuming. It was the one
THE LATE TAWAKALI SUDI
JUMBE OF KOTAKOTA, WALI OK H.H. THE SULTAN QY
ZANZIBAR ON LAKE NYASA
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
93
thing, he told me afterwards, that he felt obliged to deny to his head wife,
'" the lady Siena." ^
At last my detention was becoming a little tedious, and I was very anxious
about the missing steamer. To soothe my anxiety, Jumbe sent for his
necromancer, who w^as to ascertain, by means of " rami " (sand), what the
NORTH NYASA ARABS: BWANA 'OMARI IN THE FOREGROUND
immediate future had in store for me as regards steamer communication.
The necromancer informed us that the small steamer (the //a/a) had run
aground on the rocks, but the " Bishop's steamer " *^ would shortly call for me.
This information turned out to be perfectly correct, and no doubt the
necromancer had other sources of knowledge than those which were occult.
* Or the '*bibi mkubwa," (** great lady") as she was commonly called.
* The Charles Janson used to be always called by the Arabs, " Islima-al-Askaf," the "Bishop's
steamer."
94 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
His news was true, for eventually the Charles Jansotiy with Archdeacon Maples
on board, came to fetch me and convey me to Karonga.
I found on arrival here that Mr. Nicoll had concluded in my name a
truce with the Arabs, and that the ground was prepared for negotiation.
I may briefly relate that as the Arabs were very distrustful, I arranged to
meet them in the bush midway between their nearest stockade and Karonga,
stipulating that they should only be accompanied by a small escort, and that
I would only bring with me the same number of men. I was accompanied
by Mr. NicoH, Mr. Monteith Fotheringham, and a few armed Atonga. Mlozi,
Kopakopa, Bwana 'Omari, Msalemu, and other Arabs, duly met me at the
point agreed upon. After a brief discussion I read out to them the terms of
the treaty which I proposed", and told them that if they refused it we should
prosecute the war to the bitter end until not one of them was left in the
country. They accepted these terms almost without deliberation and the
treaty was forthwith signed, and peace was declared.
A bull was killed as a sacrifice, and the flesh was distributed amongst our
men and the men who had accompanied the Arabs. On the following day
the British flag was run up at Karonga, and the native chiefs from the
surrounding districts came in and signed treaties, accepting British protection.
On the following day the Arabs paid us a return visit at Karonga, signed
treaties of protection and accepted the British flag. Mr. Crawshay^ then
arrived from Deep Bay with a large number of Wahenga chiefs in canoes,
who signed treaties of protection. Thus protection treaties had now been
concluded between Jumbe*s territory on the south-west of Lake Nyasa, and
the extreme north-east corner of the lake.
I was at this time much exercised about the want of a secure harbour at the
north end of Lake Nyasa. Karonga was an open roadstead, most dangerous
for landing, for it must always be remembered that Lake Nyasa is as rough
at times as the British Channel, with heavy breakers on unprotected shores.
The existence of a secure harbour in Kambwe lagoon, 3 J miles to the north
of Karonga, had not then been made known, or it may be that owing to
various circumstances it did not then exist as a harbour which vessels of
considerable draught could enter. After examining carefully the north coast
of Lake Nyasa, I decided to secure the harbour of Parumbira, at the
extreme northernmost corner of the lake, for the African Lakes Company.
I accordingly bought the land for them, and placed an agent there to build
and occupy. Subsequently, however, by the Anglo-German Agreement of
1890, the boundary between the two European Powers was drawn at the
River Songwe, and Parumbira fell to Germany. It is now the headquarters
of the German Government, on Lake Nyasa, and has been rechristened
Langenburg.
Only one week was occupied at Karonga in making peace with the Arabs ;
securing North Nyasa by treaty ; choosing this harbour for the African Lakes
Company ; and arranging my caravan for Lake Tanganyika. But the reason
' Mr. Crawshay, originally a lieutenant in the Inniskilling Dragoons, had come out to British Central
Africa to shoot big game, and had joined the Lakes Company's forces as a volunteer in the war against
the Arabs. After Captain Lugard had captured Deep Bay, an important harbour on the north-west coast
of Lake Nyasa, used by the Arabs as the end of a ferry to the east side of the Lake, Mr. Crawshay for
some months garrisoned this place as a fort, and kept the Arabs out of Deep Bay. He acquired a
considerable influence amongst the Wahenga, and was of much service to me in the early days of the
Protectorate. Until quite recently he was Vice-Consul for the north of Lake Nyasa, but retired from this
appointment on account of ill-health.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
95
why it was possible to dispatch such a mass of important business in seven
days, was that I was most ably seconded by Mr. J. L. Nicoll. My having
secured this gentleman at Quelimane as my second in command really did
more than anything else to secure the complete success to my mission. We
started for Tanganyika on the loth of November, 1889. To obtain as
much territory for England as possible I journeyed at first in a northerly
direction, and penetrated as far to the north-east as the southern shores
of Lake Rukwa, a salt lake of considerable size. Mr. Nicoll, Dr. Kerr Cross
(who had joined us) and my.self, were the first Europeans to discover
the southern end of this lake. The country all round Rukwa, however, was
so desolate and inhabited by such a reprehensible set of slave raiders, that
I concluded no treaties with them, and was thankful to get my expedition
out of their clutches without loss of goods or lives. Returning to the
beautiful Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, we found ourselves again among people
LANGENBURG, CAPITAL OF GERMAN NYASALAND
who were warm friends of the British, and who everywhere concluded treatie-s
with expressions of positive enthusiasm. The A-mambwe, especially, had come
to look upon the British as their champions against the Arab slave traders,
and were almost frantic in their expressions of friendship. Nevertheless
the A-mambwe were very quarrelsome amongst themselves, and when I
reached the London Missionary Society's station at Fwambo, about thirty
miles from the south end of Lake Tanganyika, I found the Missionaries
were in a serious fix. In the first place they had been for more than a year
cut off from supplies and letters and were much delighted to get their mails
and such supplies as I could bring them, but they were still more seriously
embarrassed because two chiefs were fighting one another, and their servants
had left them to join the respective sides to which they belonged. A
little good-humoured argument, however, secured peace between these rival
chieftains, who in turn concluded treaties with us ; and I reached the south
end of Tanganyika with no further difficulty except occasional scares amongst
my porters caused by the dread of Awemba raiders. At the south end of
Tanganyika I was greeted by Mr. A. J. Swann, who was the master of the
London Missionary Society's steamer on that lake. Mr. Swann threw himself
heart and soul into assisting me in my projects. Unfortunately the Mission
96 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
steamer was laid up for repairs, but Mr. Swann placed their sailing boat at
my disposal. By means of this boat I visited all the chiefs on the south end
of Lake Tanganyika, made treaties with them, and further penetrated to
the settlements of Kabunda, an Arab trader, who had almost constituted
himself a native chief. It was important in those days to conciliate
Kabunda, who had remained neutral in the war between the Arabs and
Lakes Company, and who had a great influence over the native chiefs. He
was really a Baluch in origin, not an Arab, and considered himself in some
respects a British subject. He entertained Mr. Swann and myself with the
greatest hospitality, and assisted us to enter into treaties with the chiefs of
Itawa, in the direction of Lake Mweru. This being the limit of the journey
which I had to perform (Mr. Sharpe was working for me to the west), I
decided to return at once to the Shire Highlands, as rumours had reached
me of war with the Portuguese. It was a great disappointment for me to
turn back at this juncture, as I desired to go to the north end of Tanganyika
and secure for England the north end of that lake,^ but I felt it to be my
duty to get through to the coast and send a report of the work already done ;
so I reluctantly postponed the completion of a scheme, which was, as I
hoped, to give us continuous communication between Cape Town and Cairo,
either over international waterways or along British territory. On my return
journey, in which no unpleasant incident occurred, I found Mponda, the
Yao chief at the south end of Lake Nyasa, in a more reasonable frame of
mind, and concluded a treaty with him. I reached Mozambique at the end
of January, 1890, telegraphed the result of my work to the Foreign Office,
and subsequently proceeded to Zanzibar to make arrangements for the
conclusion of treaties at the north end of Tanganyika. Not being able to
return thither myself, as my health was failing, I entrusted the task to Mr.
A. J. Swann, and sent up to him an expedition under the leadership of my
invaluable Swahili headman, Ali-Kiongwe. Mr. Swann's e.xpedition was
entirely successful. Treaties were made and the British flag was planted at
the extreme north end of Lake Tanganyika. Unfortunately, however, his
treaties arrived too late to be taken into consideration at the conclusion of the
Anglo-German Convention ; but Lord Salisbury managed to secure by that
Convention facilities for the crossing of German territory between Tanganyika
and Uganda, which will be very important to us in future developments.
In forwarding my report to the Foreign Office I proposed the term " British
Central Africa" for the territories just brought under British influence. Soon
after my return to England in the early summer of 1890 the Anglo-German
Convention was signed, which, among other important gains to Great
Britain, set a seal on the work which the British South Africa Company,
Sharpe, Nicoll, Swann, Fotheringham, Buchanan and I had done. This was
followed by an abortive Convenjtion with Portugal which, however, proved to
be the basis of a definite understanding concluded with that Power in 1891.
In the spring of 1891 the British Protectorate over the countries adjoining
Lake Nyasa was proclaimed, and by the Conventions with Germany and
Portugal, the remainder of British Central Africa was declared to be an
exclusively British sphere of influence.
After the conclusion of the Anglo-German Convention Her Majesty con-
ferred on Mr. John Buchanan a C.M.G., and on myself a C.B. Mr. W. A.
<'hurchill, who, during my absence in the interior, had done excellent work
* With land hunger Vappetit vient en maitgeant.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 97
at Mozambique, when matters had been in a most critical state with Portugal,
was promoted to be Her Majesty*s Vice-Consul ; Mr. Alfred Sharpe and Mr.
Alexander Carnegie Ross^ (who had been British Vice-Consul at Quelimane)
were equally made Commissioned Vice-Consuls ; Mr. J. L. Nicoll (who had
remained a year at Tanganyika to strengthen the British position at the south
end of that lake) was given an important post in the Administration of the
new Protectorate; Mr. John Buchanan, when he ceased to be Acting Consul,
was made a Vice-Consul ; Mr. Crawshay, Mr. Swann, and Mr. Belcher (the
Commander of the Universities Mission steamer on Lake Nyasa)^ all subse-
quently joined the Administration of the British Central Africa Protectorate.
Mr. Monteith Fotheringham, the agent of the Lakes Company at Karonga,
who had rendered me very great services, preferred, however, to remain in the
employment of the African Lakes Company, as he was subsequently offered
the important post of manager at Mandala.
In the autumn of 1890 Her Majesty's Government began to consider the
administration of these new territories. It was finally decided to confine the
actual Protectorate to the regions adjacent to Lake Nyasa and the River Shire,
and to administer that Protectorate directly by a Commissioner under the
Imperial Government, and further to place all the rest of the Sphere of
Influence, north of the Zambezi, under the Charter of the British South Africa
Company, subject of course to certain conditions. I was appointed to be
Commissioner and Consul-General to administer the Protectorate, and was
chosen by the British South Africa Company as their Administrator north of
the Zambezi, an unpaid post which I held for nearly five years.^
By an arrangement between the Chartered Company and Her Majesty's
Government, the former contributed annually for a certain number of years
the sum of ;6^io,ooo per annum, for the maintenance of a police force to be
used by me indifferently in the Protectorate and in the Company's Sphere.
The Company also met the cost of administering its own Sphere of Influence
north of the Zambezi, and further agreed to provide us, by arrangement with
the African Lakes Company, with the free use of that Company's boats and
steamers.*
On my return to British Central Africa as Commissioner and Consul-
General and Administrator for the British South Africa Company's territories
to the north of the Zambezi, I appointed to my staff Lieut., now Captain, B. L.
Sclater, R.E. (who took with him three non-commissioned officers of the Royal
Engineers) ; Mr. Alexander Whyte, F.z.s. (as a practical Botanist and Natural
History Collector); and, with the consent of the Indian Government, engaged
> Now H.M. Consul at Bdra.
^ Now H. M. Vice-Consul at Quelimane.
^ I preferred to receive no pay from the Company, so that I might not in any way compromise my
position as an Imperial Officer.
* Roughly speaking the Company thus pledged itself to spend about ;i^ 17,500 a year on British
Central Africa. For the first two years, however, the average amount spent per annum did not reach
this sum, but in the third year it was deemed advisable that I should come to some definite agreement
with the Company in regard to their annual contribution, which was then fixed at ;f 17,500. In addition
to this allowance Mr. Rhodes agreed to provide as much as ;^ 10,000 for the special purpose of conquering
the chief Makanjira, who persistently raided the south-eastern portion of our territories. Of this sum a
little over ^4,000 was actually spent. In 1894 this arrangement came to an end. At the l)eginninp; of
the financial year 1895, ^^^ Company ceased to provide any contribution whatever towards the admmis-
tration of the Protectorate, and the Imperial Government returned to them a proportion of the amounts
already contributed. The Company in 1895 undertook the administration of ils own Sphere at its own
expense, and the Protectorate was thenceforth assisted by contributions from Her Majesty's Government
only.
98
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Captain Cecil Montgomery Maguire^ (of the Haiderabad Contingent Lancers)
to raise a small force of Indian troops as a nucleus for our police force in
Central Africa. Captain Maguire was to start from India and meet me at
the mouth of the River Chinde. Captain Sclater and the rest of my staff*
were to leave England subsequent to myself and also meet me at Chinde. In
the meantime I proceeded to Zanzibar and Mozambique, to make arrangements
for the disembarkation of my expedition at the mouth of the Zambezi. In
the autumn of 1890 Lord Salisbury had resolved to place two gunboats on
the Zambezi, and these vessels, the Herald and the Mosquito, were very ably
put together at Chinde under the superintendence of the Senior Naval Officer,
Commander J. H. Keane, R.N., C.M.G., who managed to launch his gunboats
without undue friction with the Portuguese. All the various sections of my
SIKH SOLDIERS OK THE CONTINGENT NOW SERVING IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
expedition arrived with delightful punctuality at Chinde, and with the aid of
the two gunboats and the steamers of the African Lakes Company we con-
veyed men, beasts, and goods without accident to Chiromo.
By the Anglo-Portuguese Convention of 1891 we had lost a little territory
to the west of the Shire basin, but had been allotted in exchange by the
Portuguese a portion of the right bank of the River Shire, below thelRuo
Junction. This brought the British Protectorate almost within sight of the
Zambezi. On my journey up the river, therefore, in H.M.S. Herald, I had to
fix the Anglo-Portuguese boundary according to the Convention, and take
over political possession of the Lower Shire District.
We had no sooner arrived at Chiromo in the month of July, 1891, than we
were greeted with the news that the Yao chief, Chikumbu,^ had attacked the
British settlers who had commenced coffee-planting in that countr>'. The
^ Captain Maguire obtained from the Indian Army seventy volunteers, of whom about forty were
Mazbi Sikhs, of the 23rd and 32nd Pioneers, and the remainder Muhamniadan cavalrymen from the
various regiments of Haiderabad Lancers. As nearly all our first batch of horses died of horse sickness
or tsetse fly. the Cavalry became useless and were eventually sent back to India. We subsequenily
decided to engage in future nothing but Sikhs for our Indian Contingent.
* A recent arrival in the Mianje district, who had developed by degrees into a powerful African
chief.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
99
ill-feeling between Chikumbu and the British was of some years' duration.
Chikumbu was a Yao who had settled amongst the peaceful Nyanja people
of Mlanje, whom he had been gradually subjugating until in 1890 they
appealed to Mr. John Buchanan for protection. The old Nyanja chief,
Chipoka, had died in 1890, and on his death-bed had, with the consent of
all his sub-chiefs and subjects, transferred the sovereign rights of his country
to the Queen, in order to pledge the British Government to the protection of
the indigenous Nyanja people against Yao attacks. Two or three planters
had just begun to settle in the Mlanje district, and although they had paid
H.M.S. "mosquito," a ZAMBEZI GUNBOAT
relatively large sums to Chikumbu he continued to extort larger and larger
payments from them ; and at last, upon their refusing to give any more,
committed various acts of violence, and stopped the natives working for them.
Chikumbu was a very great slave trader and kept up a direcct communication
with the East Coast of Africa at Angoche, whither his caravans of slaves
were generally forwarded. He was allied with Matipwiri and other Yao
slave-trading chiefs.
Accordingly Captain Maguire was dispatched two days after our reaching
Chiromo, with a force of Sikhs to bring Chikumbu to reason. The campaign
was not of long duration, though there were one or two days of stiff fighting.
Chikumbu fled and his brother was taken prisoner. The latter was eventually
released and appointed chief in Chikumbu's stead, upon his giving promises
of good behaviour which have since been kept. After a considerable banish-
ment Chikumbu was recently allowed to return, and lives now as a private
individual.
loo BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Whilst Captain Maguire was thus engaged I had to spend two months at
Chiromo, settling a great many matters in connection with the Lower Shire
districts. I did not reach Zomba till the month of September 1 891, and here
I was joined by Captain Maguire. After a brief rest we were both obliged to
start with a strong expedition for the south end of Lake Nyasa, owing to
troubles of a complex kind which had broken out between Mponda and other
Yao chiefs, and between Mponda and Chikusi, a chief of the Southern Angoni.
We took with us a force of 70 Indian soldiers and 9 Zanzibaris ; also a
7-pounder mountain gun, and marched up the east bank of the Shire.
Although we had come to mediate between the chiefs whose fighting was
temporarily stopping communications on the Shire and were not bent on any
punitive measures except in regard to Makanjira, we were obliged to take
considerable precautions against Mponda, who was uncertain in his attitude
towards the British, and who waged these wars chiefly with the intention
of securing slaves for the Kilwa^ caravans which visited his country. To
avoid coming into collision with him unnecessarily we encamped on the
uninhabited reed wilderness opposite his main town on the east bank of the
Shire, about three miles distant from the south end of Lake Nyasa. Though
some of these Yao chiefs had invoked our intervention at a distance, their
attitude became suspiciously hostile upon our entering their country with an
armed force. Accordingly Captain Maguire deemed it prudent to throw up
fortifications round our camp opposite Mponda's town. These had to be
erected with stealth as Mponda was continually sending to enquire what
we were doing, and we were anxious to avoid any attack on his part until we
were capable of defending ourselves and our stores. Accordingly the defences
of what Captain Maguire called, half in fun, " Fort Johnston," were constructed
during the day-time in separate sections, which apparently had no con-
nection with one another. Mponda was informed, when he came to see
what we were doing, that these pits and sections of embankment were
intended as sleeping shelters for the men. We then took advantage of
a moonlight night, when the moon was half full, to work almost twelve
hours on end, and by the next morning our camp was completely
surrounded by mud and sand breastworks behind a rev^tement of bamboo.
Before this point was reached, however, an engagement had taken place with
one of our enemies. Makandanji, a chief who dwelt on the south-east corner
of Nyasa, had tied up and imprisoned our envoys. His town was about seven
miles distant from Fort Johnston. Captain Maguire resolved on the true
Napoleonic policy of crushing our enemies singly, and not waiting for them
to come to terms as to a combined movement against us. He suddenly fell
on Makandanji and drove him out of his village, releasing our imprisoned men,
and scattering Makandanji's forces, which were never again able to take the
field against us. Mponda, however, instead of joining Makandanji, seized the
opportunity to capture nearly all the runaways, whom he forthwith marched
off to his own town and sold as slaves to the Swahili caravans waiting there.
Over seventy of the captives he had the insolence to drive through our camp at
Fort Johnston, at a time when Captain Maguire was absent and I was left with
only ten men. As soon as Captain Maguire was back and the little fort was
completed, I summoned Mponda to set all these slaves at liberty. He declined
to do so, and commenced warlike proceedings against us. We had timed our
ultimatum for a day which was followed by full moon, and resolved to attack
* Kilwa, on the east coast of Africa, was formerly the great distributing dep6t of the N>*asa slaves.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE lor
at night. Accordingly at nine o'clock, on the evening of the 19th of October,
1891, one hour after the expiration of the term given for the restoration of the
slaves, we fired a shell across the river into Mponda's town, perhaps a quarter
of a mile distant. Mponda had no conception of the range of artillery fire,
or the effects of incendiary shells. The return fire of his guns and his muzzle-
loading cannon was harmless, as we were almost beyond their effective range.
A few more shells soon set much of Mponda*s town on fire, and he called for
a truce. This was granted, but he only made use of it to withdraw with his
women and ivory to a strong place he possessed in the hills. His fighting men
remained and we renewed the struggle, which we kept up till the early morning,
when we landed on the opposite shore and drove the remainder of the defenders
out of Mponda's town, which we then destroyed. A great many slaves were
found by us in the town, and brought over to our camp. Many of these
wretched people had come from vast distances in the interior of South Central
FORT JOHNSTON IN 1895
Africa. The following day Mponda asked for terms of peace, and peace was
eventually concluded. He then informed us as to the whereabouts of the slave-
trading caravans : Captain Maguire pursued these people, capturing seven of
them and releasing large numbers of slaves. The terms of peace offered to
Mponda were very fair, and he probably rather gained in power by coming to
an understanding with us. For four years afterwards he kept the peace; then
in the belief that we were going to get the worst of it at the hands of Zarafi,
he unwisely went to war once more, with the result that he is now temporarily
exiled from his country.
Makandanji, the first chief with whom we had fought, acknowledged the
supremacy of Zarafi, a powerful chief who dwelt on a very high mountain 20
miles to the east of Fort Johnston. We knew little about Zarafi in those days,
except that he had not long succeeded his mother, a famous woman-chief called
Kabutu. Zarafi, imagining that we should follow the attack on Makandanji by
an advance into his country, sent envoys down to treat with us for peace. We,
therefore, on one day, concluded treaties with Mponda, Zarafi, and Makandanji,
and seemed to have accomplished the pacification of South Nyasa.
I02 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Encouraged by this success, we then and there resolved to undertake the
chastisement of Makanjira, who had, as already related, committed various
outrages on British subjects, and had recently robbed the Universities Mission
of a boat and killed some of their boatmen. We hired the African Lakes
Company's steamer DomirUy and mounted our 7-pounder gun in the bows
Arriving suddenly off Makanjira's in the early morning, we were saluted by
volleys from his fighting men, who were drawn up on the beach, and who had
evidently been expecting our arrival. A shell landed in the middle of this
yelling crowd produced an impression on them which was absolutely novel, and
there was soon not one of the enemy in sight. After setting fire to a portion
of the town with other shells, I effected a landing with a small number of
Sikhs, whilst Captain Maguire kept the enemy at bay by bombarding the town
from the steamer. We managed to land with only one or two casualties, and
the Sikhs carried off two of Makanjira's cannon and set fire to one of his daus.^
The enemy, however, came on us in such strength that we had to retreat
to our boat, and should probably have not escaped with our lives had not
Captain Maguire arrived with reinforcements. He drove the enemy back into
the town, and completed the destruction of the dau.
The next morning Captain Maguire landed in force, and after hard fighting,
in which several of our Sikhs were severely wounded, he captured all Makanjira's
defences. I joined him, and we then drove the enemy out of the huge town,
which we completely destroyed. We also destroyed two or three of their daus.
After waiting a day in vain to see if any person would come from Makanjira
to treat for a peace, we steamed over to the opposite side of the lake, where it
was necessary to come to an understanding with Kazembe, who lived opposite
to Makanjira and was a near relation. Lake Nyasa is at its narrowest opposite
Makanjira's town. Its breadth here is probably not more than fifteen miles.
The favourite ferry across Lake Nyasa, therefore, has generally been between
these two points, the one on the eastern shore held by Makanjira, the other on
the west by Kazembe. Kazembe was a great slave trader, but was not hostile
to the British. He had concluded a treaty with me in 1890, but it was
necessary to warn him that the slave trade could no longer continue. He took
the warning in good part, and promised good behaviour in future. This promise
was not faithfully adhered to, and the result was that Kazembe was exiled from
the Protectorate for a few months, but was subsequently restored to power, and
is now chief in Makanjira's place.
After leaving Kazembe's, we revisited Makanjira's coast in the Domira,
Captain Maguire landed at a town belonging to Makanjira's headman, Saidi
Mwazungu, in the southern part of Makanjira's country, for the purpose of
acquiring information. The people had not evinced unfriendliness as we
approached, and Captain Maguire landed under a flag of truce. He was
received by an Arab (who was said to have been a native of Aden) with a
show of courtesy, but no sooner had he reached the veranda of the Arab's
house than he was suddenly fired on by the Arab himself, who by some
marvellous accident missed him, though only two or three yards distant.
Captain Maguire had landed with only six men ; but, hearing the shot, I
immediately dispatched reinforcements to his assistance, and the town was
soon taken and destroyed. The two remaining daus of Makanjira, in search
^ A "dau" is an Arab sailing vessel, sometimes of considerable size. Spelt phonetically it should
be dau^ but the British, with their extraordinary racial perversity in matters of spelling, prefer without
rhyme or reason to spell it " dhow."
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
103
of which Captain Maguire had landed, were either not there or had escaped
before our coming.
We now returned to Zomba, leaving a garrison behind at Fort Johnston. We
had no sooner reached Zomba than we heard of trouble from Kawinga, a power-
ful Yao chief who lived on a hill which was at the north-eastern extremity of
the Zomba range. It was deemed advisable to dispatch an expedition against
Kawinga, and this was accompanied by Mr. John Buchanan, C.M.G., who had
become a Vice-Consul in the service of the Protectorate. Kawinga's fortress
proved however to be a much harder nut to crack than we had expected. A
gallant attempt was made by Captain
Maguire and Mr. Buchanan to scale the ^ ^. i
hill in face of a heavy fire. Captain
Maguire was wounded in the chest,
several of our men were killed or
wounded, and the force was partially
repulsed, though it had captured nearly
all Kawinga's positions except the
highest, and had so far scared him that
he treated for peace and obtained it.
After the conclusion of peace with
Kawinga, Captain Maguire considered
it necessary to return to Fort Johnston,
to complete the building at that place,
and relieve the garrison. He was to be
back at Zomba to spend Christmas with
me, but I was doomed never to see him
again.
Upon reaching Fort Johnston he
had received information as to the
locality where Makanjira's two daus
were hidden. Without waiting to con-
sult me, therefore, he started in the
Domira, with a small force of Indian
soldiers. He found the daus — in a little
cove close to where Fort Maguire is
now situated, and somewhat to the north of Makanjira's main town. He
landed with a small force of about 28 men, and was proceeding to destroy
and incapacitate the daus, when Makanjira, with about 2,000 men, attacked
him. He retreated to the beach.
Unfortunately a storm had arisen which had wrenched his boat from her
moorings, and had dashed her on to the rocks. The Domira in endeavouring
to appi'oach as near as possible in order to come to his assistance, was blown on
to a sand-bank, and stuck fast within a short distance of the shore. When
he had lost three of his men Captain Maguire told the others to enter the
water and make for the Domira. After seeing them off, and with a few faithful
Sikhs repulsing with the bayonet the onslaught of the enemy, he turned to the
water himself, but just as he was nearing the steamer a bullet apparently struck
him in the back of the head and he sank. Just about this time the master
of the Domira, Mr. Keiller, was wounded, and shortly after Mr. Urquhart,
the second engineer, was severely wounded. All the Indian soldiers except the
three who had been killed reached the steamer safely, and preparations were at
CAPTAIN CECIL MONTGOMERY MAGUIRE
DIED DECEMBER 15, I&91
I04 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
once made to defend the Domtrd from the attack of Makanjira's men, who were
at very close range. After two or three days* incessant fighting, Makanjira's
people put up a flag of truce. His envoys were received on board and offered,
in return for a certain ransom (which was paid), to cease fighting and to assist in
moving the Domira off* the sand-bank, and to give up the bodies of Captain
Maguire and the dead sepoys. The negotiations were chiefly conducted by Dr.
Boyce^ and Mr. McEwan,* in order that the two wounded Europeans might not
be shown to the enemy. After peace had, seemingly, been concluded with
Makanjira's envoys, the latter said that no effect could be given to the provisions
of this agreement until the white men had visited Makanjira on the shore, and
as an extra inducement for them to come they promised Dr. Boyce that he
should receive for burial the body of Captain Maguire. Owing to the two
wounded officers being concealed in the cabin below, it appears that Makanjira s
envoys imagined Dr. Boyce and Mr. McEwan were the only white men on the
steamer. They therefore made a point of insisting they should both come to
see Makanjira.
No idea of treachery seems to have entered the minds of the Europeans, who
did not even think of insisting on Makanjira's leaving hostages on board, whilst
they went on shore. They therefore started for the beach with only a few
unarmed attendants. One of these was Captain Maguire's orderly, an Indian
Muhammadan soldier. Soon after reaching the beach an Arab led this orderly
away from the rest of the party, offering to show him Captain Maguire's body.
So far as is known, after taking the orderly for a roundabout walk he urged him
strongly to return to the boat, which the man did.^ Dr. Boyce and his party
were told that Makanjira was just a short distance from the shore, in the bush^
awaiting them. They were thus led on to a distance of perhaps two miles from
the lake shore ; then they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a number
of Makanjira's men, at the head of whom was Saidi Mwazungu, a man half
Arab and half Yao. Saidi Mwazungu suddenly called out, " Makanjira has
ordered the white men to be killed." His men then turned their guns on
the party. Mr. McEwan was shot repeatedly. Dr. Boyce was shot several
times, but did not die. They therefore threw him down and cut his head
off*. The Swahili servants who had accompanied this party were not killed, but
secured and subsequently sold as slaves.* The Atonga steamer-boys were
killed, or left for dead. One of these Atonga, however, whom the Arabs
believed themselves to have killed, managed in spite of his terrible wounds to
crawl by degrees to the lake shore, where he shouted for help. He was got on
board the steamer, and gave them an account of what had happened. Mean-
time the survivors in the steamer heard the Yao shouting on the shore that all
the white men were killed, and that now was the time to attack the steamer.
The Sikhs behaved splendidly, but the hero at this crisis was Mr. Urquhart, the
wounded engineer, who by dint of almost superhuman efforts, and by working
at the dead of night, managed to get the steamer afloat. After a five days'
detention — five days without sleep, in constant and incessant danger, and almost
* Dr Boyce was a Parsi Doctor of Medicine, who had been engaged by me at Zanzibar as Surgeon
to the Indian contingent.
* The first engineer of the Domira.
^ The orderly, with the horror of what had taken place during these few days, subsequently went out of
his mind, and was never able to give a coherent account of the circumstances, but it is believed that the
Arab did not wish a fellow Muhammadan to be killed, and therefore induced the orderly to return to
the steamer.
* After the most extraordinary adventures they succeeded in reaching the coast.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 105
without food — the steamer floated off the sand-bank into deep water. The
7-pounder g^n was silently got ready by the Sikhs, and before the vessel
steamed away, shells were fired in rapid succession into howling crowds of
Makanjira's men, who were dancing round camp fires, confident that a few more
hours would see the Domira in their possession.
The death of Captain Maguire tobk place on the iSth December, 1891.
No news of it reached me until Christmas Eve, just at the time when I was
expecting him to arrive for Christmas day. I left at once for Blantyre, which
I reached on the evening of Christmas day, and there conferred with Mr. John
Buchanan and Mr. Fotheringham, the manager of the African Lakes Company.
The latter at once proffered his co-operation in meeting the difficult situation
on Lake Nyasa. We both started for the Upper Shire by different routes, and
reached Fort Johnston at the end of December. Here we found that the chief
Msamara who lived a little below Mponda on the west bank of the Shire, had
turned against us and with Zarafi had sent a force of men to attack Fort
Johnston, and although nothing more had come of the attack but a few wild
shots, he had nevertheless been raiding all round the Fort.
The bad news had brought volunteers hurrying up from the south. Amongst
them came Mr. J. G. King, from Port Herald ; Dr. A. Blair Watson ; the late
Mr. Gilbert Stevenson ; and, a little later on. Commander J. H. Keane, R.N.^
Fortunately Mponda had remained loyal, and although for a few days the Fort
and its garrison of wounded and exhausted men lay at his mercy, he had not
only been neutral but had assisted to defend the place against Zarafi's attacks.
My arrival soon restored the morale of the Sikhs, who were literally in tears at
the death of their commander, but the Muhammadan Indian soldiers had not
rallied from the feeling of discouragement caused by this disaster. Soon after-
wards they had, in fact, to be sent back to India, though there were men
amongst them who had strikingly distinguished themselves. It must be
remembered, however, that they were all cavalry men, and not used to fighting
on foot, or on board a ship, and all things considered behaved as well as might
be expected. The Sikhs, however, throughout all this crisis, never showed their
sterling worth more effectually.
Another attack on Makanjira was impossible until we had got gunboats on
the lake. So I decided to restore our prestige by subduing those enemies who
were nearer at hand and more vulnerable, to wit, Msamara and Zarafi. The
chief Msamara was captured and imprisoned in the fort, together with some
of his headmen, whilst an enquiry was instituted into his culpability for the
recent raids. I regret to say that whilst in prison he poisoned himself but
it was fortunately done with the knowledge and connivance of his followers and
consequently no slur was cast on the Administration for his death, his headmen
themselves asserting that their chief had committed suicide because he believed
he was going to be hanged, an eventuality, however, of which there was little
probability. The war against Zarafi was a more difficult matter. I was able
with the help of the volunteer officers and the Sikhs to capture all Zarafi 's
villages in the plains with relatively little loss of men ; but to attack Zarafi
in the hills was another matter. While on our way thither, all Mponda's men
who were acting as our porters ran away, and we were therefore compelled to
retreat to Fort Johnston. Under the circumstances the flight of our porters was
the best thing that could have happened to us, since we were embarked on an
enterprise far beyond our strength, although we did not know it at that time;
^ Afterwards made C.M.Ci.
io6 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
for another march would have brought us to the base of Zarafi's hill, where we
should probably have met with as serious a disaster as subsequently happened
to another expedition.
During all this crisis we were much helped by the Angoni, under Chifisi,
who dwelt at the back of Mponda's country. These men came down in
hundreds to assist us in fighting Zarafi. Unfortunately the Angoni are not
as brave as they look, and we subsequently found they were very broken reeds
to depend on in hard fighting. Zarafi had, nevertheless, suffered so much at
our hands by the loss of all his villages in the plains that he ceased his raids,
and commenced negotiations for peace. No doubt these negotiations were only
intended to gain time, but I welcomed them as a valuable respite, and did not
intend to take any further steps against Zarafi until I could receive reinforce-
ments of oflficers and men. By the capture of Zarafi's low-lying towns I had
prevented for some time to come any attempts on his part to obstruct the
navigation of the Shire ; this end was still further attained by the imprisonment
of the chief Msamara who subsequently committed suicide at Fort Johnston.
I again returned to Zomba, determined to apply myself now to the con-
.sideration of our financial position, for since my arrival in British Central Africa
in July, 1 891, I had not had a spare day in which to turn to accounts. Up till
this time it must be remembered that I had to be my own secretary and
accountant, and the pressure of office work was almost more than I could
stand. Captain Sclater was busily employed in making roads, and this work
was so necessary I did not like to call him off it for other purposes ; Mr. Sharpe
was not yet back from leave of absence in England.
I had just begun to settle down once more to office work at Zomba when
another message arrived with disastrous news. On the 24th February, 1892,
I received a note from Dr. Watson informing me that after my departure a
large force of Angoni had come down and placed their services at the disposal
of Mr. J. G. King, whom I had left in charge of Fort Johnston as chief of that
station , and Mr. King had resolved, then and there, to attack Zarafi, who had
once more become troublesome; that the expedition had resulted in a very
serious repulse at the foot of Zarafi's hill, in which but for the dogged bravery
of a Naval Petty Officer, Mr. Henry Inge, lent by the river gunboats, nearly the
whole of the expedition must have been annihilated. He went on to relate
that at the beginning of the engagement Mr. King had been shot through the
lungs, and that he himself (Dr. Watson) had been wounded in the fight ; that
5ome six Indian soldiers had been killed and several Swahilis ; that another
fourteen Indian soldiers were missing;^ and that the 7-pounder gun which
Mr. Inge used till the ammunition was exhausted, to distract the enemy from
following the defeated expedition, had had to be abandoned in the bush.
Fortunately at this juncture Commander Keane, R.N., was staying with me,
having only quitted Fort Johnston a short time before. On my invitation he
returned there and restored the situation as well as possible.
I am glad to say that both Mr. King and Dr. Watson recovered from their
wounds. The recovery of the former was quite extraordinary as he was
practically shot through the lungs.'- Our ultimate losses were found to have
consisted of the 7-pounder gun, a few rifles and cases of ammunition ; and six
^ These subsequently reached Fort Johnston by devious routes, one after more than thirteen days in
tlie bush with nothing but grass, leaves, and roots to eat.
■' For years afterwards he was Nice-Consul at Chinde ; but to my deep regret died at that place
-on November 30, 1896.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
[07
Indian sepoys and three Zanzibar! soldiers killed. This time may be taken as
the nadir of our fortunes. The slave -trading chiefs at Chiradzulu began to
give trouble by committing highway robberies on the roads between Zomba
and Blantyre and Blantyre and Matope. The Ndirande ^ people joined them in
these depredations, and Matipwiri, a very powerful Yao chief who dwelt near
the Portuguese border at the back of the Mlanje Mountain, together with
Kawinga, sent out raiding parties from time to time to rob our carriers and to
carry ofif slaves. Makanjira having received an enormous accession of strength
and prestige from the death of Captain Maguire, crossed the lake to the opposite
peninsula of the Rifu, and with the aid of the disaffected party there drove
Kazembe from power as punishment for his alliance with the English.
Kazembe fled to the south. Thus both sides of this narrow ferry were in the
hands of the enemies of the English. Makanjira's next attempts were directed
against Jumbe, and he began a war with him, which eventually terminated in the
following year by Jumbe*s loss of all his territory except his capital town.
Fortunately the Arabs at the north end were not ready to recommence the
war ; and Mponda, who held the key of the situation at the south end of Lake
Nyasa, remained faithful to us. Then Mr. Sharpe returned from leave of
absence in England, and the terrible pressure of the official work on my
shoulders was lightened. Moreover I received my first accountant in the
person of Mr. William Wheeler,
who assisted me in getting our
finances into order.
Captain Sclater had been of
great assistance to me through
this trying time, and had made
a rapid journey to the coast to
obtain things that were wanted,
and to engage some more men.
Amongst his recruits was Mr,
Wheeler, who had come to us
from a position of accountant in
the service of the Union Steam-
ship Company.
But in March, 1892, after the
disaster at Zarafi*s, the fortunes of
the young Administration seemed
certainly at their lowest ebb ; and
what distressed me much more at
this period than our wars with the
Yao, or any trouble that could
be given by the black men, was
the attitude of the white settlers
and some of the missionaries. It cannot be said that the Administration in its
earlier days was universally popular amongst the Europeans, especially those
who dwelt in the Shire province. The proclamation of the British Protectorate
had been followed by a wholesale grabbing of land; or, where it is not fair
to describe the acquisition of land as "grabbing," at any rate huge tracts
had been bought for disproportionate amounts from the natives, and there were
* Ndirande is a mountain overlooking Blantyre.
- Now the chief accountant of the British Central Africa Administration.
MR. WILLIAM WHKKLER
io8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
many claims that overlapped and required adjustment. The settlers knew that
I was entrusted with the task of enquiring into and settling their claims, and
many of them anticipated with some accuracy that their claims would not be
sanctioned, either wholly or even at all. They were therefore disposed to
weaken my position as much as they could by cavilling at all my acts, and
making all the capital they could out of my misfortunes. In regard to a
certain Missionary Society in the Shire Highlands, its hostile attitude was
of more complex origin. It had acquired, and acquired by good means, a very
strong influence over the natives. Its representatives were men of great
natural ability who, whether conscious of it or not, enjoyed to the full the
power of governing. Still they had not been appointed to administer this
country by the Government, and it was impossible to allow them to take
the law into their own hands as they were in the habit of doing, by holding
informal courts and administering justice. Loth as I was to come into conflict
with any Missionary Society — as I have always been a sincere admirer of the
results of mission work — I found myself inevitably at issue with certain men
at Blantyre and elsewhere. It is not worth while describing the ways in which
through misrepresentation in the Press, letters to the Foreign Office, and strong
local opposition my life and the lives of my subordinates were made unbearable :
for I suppose the same conflict has occurred with the commencement of all
attempts to found an Administration among headstrong, sturdy pioneers. I
merely refer to these foolish dead-and-forgotten quarrels because in a small way
they enter into the woof of our history at this period, for I cannot too strongly
assert, as a fact perhaps not sufficiently appreciated, that during my seventeen
years' acquaintance with Africa the difficulties raised up against my work by
Europeans have infinitely exceeded the trouble given me by negroes or Arabs.
Captain Charles Edward Johnson, of the 36th Sikhs, arrived in the month
of June to take the place of the late Captain Maguire. He soon brought order
into our disorganised forces, and there accompanied him a small detachment of
Sikhs which proved a very useful reinforcement. Commander Keane was
released by the arrival of Captain Johnson and received a C.M.G. in reward
for his services. Before Captain Johnson could get an expedition ready I was
obliged to dispatch a small force under Mr. Sharpe and Captain Sclater against
the highway robbers of Mt. Chiradzulu.^
At the beginning of July, 1892, we received a visit from Admiral Nicholson,
who was commanding on the Cape Station. Being absent at Fort Johnston,
I dispatched Mr. Sharpe to meet the Admiral at Chiromo, whilst I journeyed
to Blantyre. As regards bad news, I had one hour after I reached Blantyre
which I shall always remember as a kind of Job's experience. Within that
one hour arrived the following pieces of information. First came a messenger
to say that a raid had been made by the Yao on the Blantyre-Zomba road, a
caravan attacked and a quantity of goods stolen. Then came another message
from Katunga, on the Shire, with the news that Mr. Sharpens boat, on his way
down to Chiromo, had been capsized by a hippopotamus, and that Mr. Sharpe
and all his companions were drowned.^ Lastly came the post with the news
' Chiradzulu is a very fine picturesque mountain about 5,500 ft. in height, midway between Zoniba and
Blantyre. The Yao settled on this mountain since the Yao raids of 186 1-2 and -3 were very troublesome
to the first missionaries and planters, and gave a great deal of annoyance in the early days of the Adminis-
tration. They were thoroughgoing slave-raiders, and were not finally subdued until the winter of 1893.
^ Two or three of Mr. Sharpe's men were drowned, but he fortunately succeeded in swimming
ashore where he was eventually picked up by a native canoe. He lost, however, everything he had with
him, including some valuable guns.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
109
that the New Oriental Bank, in which were invested a good proportion of our
funds, had failed.^ Following close on this tale of disasters came Admiral
Nicholson, fortunately accompanied by Mr. Sharpe, the news of whose
untimely death had fairly taken all the heart out of me. Probably Admiral
Nicholson has never known to this day why I received him with so much
emotion.
In May, 1892, Mr. John L. Nicoll had returned from leave of absence in
England, and had entered the service of the British Central Africa Administra-
tion. He was appointed collector for the South Nyasa district, to reside at
MR. NICOLL's house AT FORT JOHNSTON
Fort Johnston. In nearly three years' residence he effected a remarkable
improvement in affairs on the Upper Shire and at the south end of the
lake. Zarafi's raids were checked, the river was policed and rendered safe,
and Mponda was kept in order. In the summer of this same year two
important expeditions arrived in the country. One was the dispatch from
England of three gunboats in sections for Lake Nyasa and the Upper Shire.
These boats had been obtained by the initiative of Lord Salisbury, when
the news first arrived of the disasters on the lake, consequent on the death
of Captain Cecil Maguire. The Admiralty undertook the charge of furnishing
these gunboats, and they were sent out under the charge of Lieutenant
(now Commander) Hope Robertson, R.N.^ The other expedition was that
* The Bank subsequently paid us in full, though not for about a year afterwards.
' For his services in conveying these gunlx^ats to Lake Nyasa, bringing about their rapid and success-
ful construction, and afterwards commanding them on I^ke Nyasa in various campaigns, Lieutenant
Robertson was promoted, and was made a C.M.CJ.
I lO
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
under Major von Wissmann, who at the head of a large expedition was con-
veying a steamer (named after himself) to Lake Nyasa, on behalf of the
German Anti-Slavery Society.
In the middle of 1892 our Customs Regulations received definite form.
Mr. H. A. Hillier, who had joined the Administration in 1 891, was made
principal Customs Officer at Chiromo, and the efficiency of our Customs
service owes much to his organization. In 1896 he was made Director-General
of Customs. In 1892 also the first steps were taken to institute a Hut tax.
The question of the taxation of the natives was in its initial stages a
TREES PLANTED BY MR. NICOLL AT FORT JOHNSTON (TWO YEARS* GROWTH)
difficult one to settle. In taking over the Lower Shire district on the west
bank of the Shire from the Portuguese in the middle of 1891, the natives
who had been accustomed to pay taxes to the Portuguese had asked me
to assess their taxes, if possible, at a lower rate. On enquiry I ascertained
that they had paid a capitation tax of something like half-a-crown a head
per annum, which tax was levied indifferently on men, women, and children.
The chiefs of the Lower Shire natives, however, were of opinion that they
would prefer a Hut to a Poll tax. Estimating the average number of hut
occupants at three, their former Poll tax would have resulted in each
household paying about ys. 6d. per annum. I therefore proposed to
compromise the matter by fixing the annual Hut tax at 6s. per annum
and abolishing the Capitation Dues. The natives seemed well satisfied with
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
1 1 1
this proposal. Gradually, however, it became obvious that if the natives of the
Lower Shire district were to pay taxes, the other natives of such portions
of the Protectorate as we were obliged to administer at our own cost, should
do the same. For a year I talked this over with the leading chiefs of the Shire
province (the only portion of the Protectorate we were then prepared to
administer), and got most of them to agree to the principle that the natives
of the Protectorate should contribute, to a reasonable extent, towards the
revenue. The idea of taxing the natives, however, was strongly opposed by
the missionaries, and also by many of the traders and planters, who believed
it would cause discontent and would make native labour dearer. I still held
to my view, nevertheless, that those natives of British Central Africa who-
THE NY AS A C; UN BOATS IN NKATA BAY, WEST NY AS A
were unable to protect themselves from the incursions of slave raiders, or
who by their own misconduct compelled the intervention of the Administration
for the maintenance of law and order, should contribute as far as their means
allowed towards the revenue of the Protectorate, for it was not to be supposed
that the British taxpayer, or the British South Africa Company, could continue
indefinitely finding subsidies for the support of the Protectorate; that the
Protectorate must justify its existence by eventually supporting itself on its
locally raised revenue. At a meeting with some of the leading missionaries
and planters at Blantyre, in the winter of 1892, I agreed to propose to the
Secretary of State that the Hut tax should be reduced to 3^-. per annum, and
eventually it was fixed in the Queen's Regulations at that sum.
The only other taxation incumbent on the natives was the taking out
of a gun license, for which the same sum was charged as in the case of
Europeans and foreigners, namely, £1 for five years, or in the case of the
natives, 4s, per annum. The payment of the Hut tax was at first confined
112 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
to certain portions of the Shire province. Gradually it was enforced through-
out the Shire province. At the present time it is enforced throughout
all the Protectorate with the exception of that portion of the West Nyasa
district which is inhabited by the northern Angoni, who at present decline
to pay taxes to the Administration but on the other hand remain quiet
and free from civil war, and therefore do not compel us to go to the expense of
administering their country. Eventually, no doubt, by friendly arrangement the
Hut tax will be enforced even here. In all other parts of the Protectorate it has
never been put in force without a proper arrangement being come to with the
native chiefs, except in such districts as where the chiefs — Yao or Arabs —
have gone to war with us. Then as one of the conditions of peace or one of
the results of conquest, the Hut tax has been eventually enforced. The
LAKE ROAD, CHIROMO
revenue derived from this source in 1893 was about ;^ 1,639. In the financial
year ended March 31st, 1896, it amounted to jf 4,695 in value. 7>^iU.^^'<t^-«'**^»*-ti-^2, ''"^
In the early autumn of 1892 I commenced the land settlement, and by"^^^'
degrees every estate or land claim between the Lower Shire district and Lakes
Tanganyika and Mweru and the Upper Luapula was visited and enquired into
by Mr. Alfred Sharpe, Captain Sclater or myself Admissible claims were
divided into two kinds : claims to mineral rights, and claims to land with or
without mineral rights.^ In the case of treaties conferring mining rights
the investigation was relatively simple. The chief or chiefs alleged to be
the grantors of such concessions were examined and if they admitted making
the grant, and it could be shown that they had received fair value for the same,
the mining concessions were confirmed. In regard to land, long occupation
and improvements were regarded as almost the best titles. These qualifications,
however, applied to very few estates in British Central Africa, as in most cases
* Inadmissible claims were those which conferred sovereign rights or granted any monopoly of trade
inconsistent with the various treaties with Foreign Powers to which Great Britain was a party.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 113
the settlers had only arrived after the proclamation of the Protectorate. Only
in cases of very lengthy occupation and much cultivation or building were
claims sanctioned which were unsupported by properly executed documents.
Even when land had been purchased, and the sale on the part of the chief was
not repudiated, and the deed of sale was authentic, the concession naire was
required to show what consideration had been paid, and if the grantor was not
considered to have received fair value for his land the grantee had either to
supplement his first payment by another, or the area of his estate was reduced
to an extent fairly compatible with the sum paid. As land was of very little
value before the establishment of the Administration, and as undoubtedly the
settlers had conferred great benefits on the country by clearing and planting,
land was not rated at a high value in these settlements. Threepence an acre
was the maximum, and this only in exceptionally favoured districts like Mlanje
and Blantyre. Sometimes the value of the land was computed at as low as a
halfpenny an acre. Except on very small estates the existing native villages
and plantations were exempted from all these purchases, and the natives were
informed that the sale of the surrounding land did not include the alienation of
their homes and plantations. The fact is, that at the time the chiefs sold land
to the Europeans they were very heedless of the results. All they desired was
the immediate possession of the trade goods or money given in payment. The
tenure of the land in reality was tribal ; that is to say theoretically the chief
had no right to alienate the land, but he had assumed such right and his
assumption was tacitly accepted by his people. It was, however, highly
necessary to secure these people from the results of their chiefs heedlessness, in
many cases, as they were apt to become the serfs of the white man when he
began to appear as their over-landlord. One of the results of the land settlement,
therefore, was to completely free the natives from any dependency on the white
settler, by restoring to them the inalienable occupancy of their villages and
plantations. Moreover, in sanctioning the various concessions in the name
of the Government we reserved to the Crown the right to make roads, railways,
or canals over anybody's property without compensation ; the control of the
water supply ; and where mining rights were included in the concession, a
royalty on the produce of the mines. In each deed (the deeds were styled
"Certificates of Claim") the boundaries of the property were set forth with
sedulous accuracy, and it was provided that all these deeds should be even-
tually supplemented by an authoritative survey made by a Government surveyor,
a process which is fast being completed. On the whole the settlement was well
accepted by the Europeans, while it gave distinct satisfaction to the natives, and
was approved without modification by Her Majesty *s Government. Throughout
the whole settlement I believe I am right in saying that only one dispute
regarding boundaries was brought into Court and not settled amicably and
informally in my office. When all these claims had been arranged I concluded,
on behalf of the Crown, treaties with all the chiefs of the Protectorate, securing
Crown control over the remainder of the land, which the natives were hence-
forth unable to alienate without the sanction of the Commissioner. In some
cases large sums of money were spent by the Government in buying up the
waste land from the natives where it was deemed advisable that a complete
control over its disposal should be exercised. Except over a small area of land
which is absolutely Crown property, a percentage on the selling price or
the rent is paid to the native chief when portions of the Crown lands are
let or sold.
114
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
In the same year, 1892, the foundation of our Courts of Justice was laid.
At my recommendation a number of officials were given warrants as magis-
trates by the Secretary of State, and were thus enabled to administer justice
to Europeans and other foreigners under the " Africa Orders in Council of 1889
and 1893."^ It was theoretically supposed that justice to natives only was ad-
ministered by native chiefs, but in reality the native courts are practically held
by British magistrates in the name of the local chief or as his representative ;
for over most of the districts the native chiefs have surrendered to us by-
treaty their justiciary rights. Still, in some districts, native chiefs are
encouraged to settle all minor cases themselves, and the natives are not
allowed to go to the European magistrate except where the native chief cannot
be relied on for fairness. No native chief or British magistrate, however, is
THE KATUNC.A ROAD IN PRE-ADMINISTRATION DAYS
allowed to carry out a death sentence on a native without first referring the
case to the Commissioner for consideration, and obtaining his sanction to the
verdict and sentence.
As far back as 1891 we had commenced road-making. Captain Sclater
had begun to clear a road from Chiromo to Zoa, with the intention of ultimately
carrying on this road to Mlanje in one direcion, and to Blantyre and Zomba in
another. It was found, however, to be of more urgent need to the community
tiiat the road between Katunga and Blantyre should be made passable for
waggons. Consequently Captain Sclater undertook the reconstruction of the
Katunga road,^ which proved to be a very lengthy and expensive business
and is not yet finally completed.
In the summer of 1892 Captain Stairs' expedition returned from Katanga,
^ Thai of 1889 only applied to British and British protected subjects ; that of 1893 g^^'^ "s, in virtue
of treaties concluded, jurisdiction over all subjects of Foreign States within the limits of the Protectorate.
'^ It had been originally made by ihe Lakes Company, but it was little more than a rough track,
without bridges, and almost impassable for waggons.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
115
through Nyasaland ; but Captain Stairs, who had been very ill with black-water
fever, died at Chinde before he could embark on the ocean steamer.
1893 dawned on us with somewhat brighter prospects. I had spent a very
pleasant Christmas at Blantyre, and had been cheered by the safe return of Mr.
Sharpe from an extensive journey through the Tanganyika, Mweru, and Upper
Luapula districts, where he had added to our geographical discoveries, and had
settled many outstanding difficulties with Arabs and native chiefs. M. Lionel
D^cle arrived at the beginning of 1893 on a scientific mission for the French
Government. In the course of this mission he had already travelled over
South Africa from the Cape to Nyasaland. He eventually continued his journey
CAPTAIN SCI.ATER S ROAD TO KATUNGA IN PROCESS OF MAKING
through British Central Africa to the south end of Tanganyika, and thence to
Uganda and the east coast of Africa.
In January, 1893, came Mr. J. F. Cunningham to be my private secretary.^
In the month of February, 1893, however, we found ourselves face to face
with a serious outbreak on the Upper Shire, an outbreak of slave traders
that had long been threatened. The upper portion of the Shire was ruled over
by a chief named Liwonde, who was a relation of Kawinga's. ^ Liwonde had
^ In 1894 he became Secretary to the British Central Africa Administration. Mr. Cunningham,
besides organising our printing establishment and Ciazette, was — among many other accomplishments — a
great road-maker. He constructed the road between Blantyre and Zomba as a *' holiday task" while I
was absent in South Africa in the spring of 1893 To praise one's private secretary is scarcely less
difficult than to praise oneself; such commendation must be private. Still I should like to acknowledge
here how much I owe to this gentleman's unflagging industry and zealous co-operation during the period
between 1893 and the present day.
' Kawinga, to whom constant allusion will be made in the pages of this History, was a powerful Vao
chief of the Machinga clan, who had settled on Chikala Mountain, near the north-west end of I^ke
Chiloa, at the end of the fifties or beginning of the sixties. He is referred to by Livingstone in his
iMSt Journeys as Kabinga. The chief Liwonde was his relation, and had, with some Yao followers,
acquired the sovereignty of the Upper Shire about thirty years ago.
ii6
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
received me well in 1889, and had made a treaty with me ; but he was incurably
addicted to the slave trade. An old Arab, named Abu Bakr (a white Arab of
Maskat), lived with Liwonde, and acted as go-between for the supply of slaves
to the Swahili caravans. At the beginning of 1893 one of these caravans had
kidnapped and carried off some boys at Zomba who worked in Mr. Buchanan's
plantations. Captain C. E. Johnson, who happened to be staying at Zomba,
hurried off in pursuit of the caravan, accompanied by Mr. George Hoare
(formerly a N.C.O. in the
Royal Engineers) and a few
Makua police. They came up
with the caravan in Liwonde's
country, and succeeded in re-
leasing the Zomba boys, to-
gether with a large number of
other slaves, but the slave
traders managed to elude them.
On the return of the rescue
party to the banks of the
Shire, in Liwonde's country,
they were attacked by Li-
wonde*s men. One of the
Makua police was killed, and
others were badly wounded,
while Mr. Hoare had to swim
for his life down the river till
he was out of the range of
the enemy's guns. Fortunately^
the rescued slaves were not
recaptured. The whole river
now was up in arms wherever
there were Yao. A boat of
the African Lakes Company
was coming down in charge
of some Atonga. It was seized
by Liwonde*s men, and one of
the Atonga had his throat cut in Liwonde's presence. Others, though
wounded, managed to escape. Finally, the Dotnira unfortunately chose this
moment to make one of her rare periodical trips down the Upper Shire to
Matope, and stuck on a sandbank opposite to one of Liwonde*s towns. When
we heard the news at Zomba, we scraped together all the forces we could
collect, but these only consisted of Makua police and Atonga labourers. With
these men Captain Johnson and I started for the Upper Shire. At Mpimbi
we were joined by Messrs. Sharpe, Gilbert Stevenson, and Crawshay. We
fought our way up the river to the place where the Domira was stranded. Here
we were over three days in a very disagreeable position. Our camp was com-
manded by the higher ground in the vicinity, from which the natives continually
fired into us. They also kept up a steady fire on the Domira, and Mr. Steven-
son, in going on board that steamer, was gravely, almost mortally, wounded. ^
^ He was shot through the Ixxly just in front of the kidneys, but made a marvellous recovery, and
subsequently did excellent service in the Protectorate in the Mlanje district. When out shooting game in
September, 1896, his gun went off accidentally and killed him.
MR. J. F. CUNNINGHAM
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 117
We were getting anxious as to our position, owing to the possible exhaustion of
our ammunition and the fact that the enemy had reoccupied the banks of the
Shire behind us, thus cutting us off from overland communication with the
Shire Highlands. The boats which attempted to go up or down the Shire
were fired at, and several boatmen and soldiers were wounded. Mr. Alfred
Sharpe was the first to relieve the acute crisis of our position by stealing out
with a few Atonga from the stockade, and lying in ambush along one of the
paths which the enemy used for advancing in our direction. In this way he
was able to pick off with his rifle several of Liwonde*s most noted warriors and
leaders, and this considerably damped the enemy's ardour.^
On the third day of our beleaguered state there arrived very welcome
reinforcements in the shape of Herr von Eltz (who was in charge of Major
von Wissmann's expedition, intended to convey a steamer to Lake Nyasa),
a German non-commissioned officer, a Hotchkiss gun, and about twenty
Sudanese soldiers. These really relieved us from any peril, and enabled
those who had been three days in this camp without sleep or a proper
meal, to get both whilst the new arrivals kept watch. On the following day
Lieut. Commander Carr, who commanded H.M.S. Mosquito on the Zambezi,
arrived with Dr. Harper and about twenty blue-jackets.
We had succeeded in getting the Doniira off the sand-bank, she had
gone to Matope, and returned with Mr. Sharpe and further reinforcements.
We were now, therefore, able to advance up the river and capture Liwonde's
town which was done without much serious fighting; the brunt of the struggle
falling to Herr von Eltz and his Sudanese, and Mr. F. J. Whicker.^ Liwonde's
town was on an island and our forces advanced on both banks of tha river.
We managed to wade across one branch of the Shire to the island which the
enemy had already abandoned on our near approach.
Lieut. Carr and the blue-jackets assisted us in building two forts and then
returned to the lower river, one or two blue-jackets remaining behind for a 'few
weeks to assist us in garrisoning the forts. Commander Robertson and myself
passed on up the river to the limits of Liwonde's country in the Domira, but
had no fighting of any serious character. Liwonde fled and we did not succeed
in capturing him for several years, during which he occasionally gave us trouble.^
The pacification of the country was ably effected by Mr. F. J. Whicker, under
whose superintendence the Upper Shire has become one of the most prosperous
districts in the Protectorate, with an abundant and contented population.
In March, 1893, Captain Sclater was obliged to return to England on
account of his health and the expiration of the time for which he was seconded.
In April I started for South Africa to confer with Mr. Rhodes and the secretary
of the South Africa Company, in regard to the contributions to be furnished
by that Company towards the adminstration of British Central Africa.
On my way down the river I met Lieut, (now Lieut.- Colonel) Edwards, who
had arrived from India with a large reinforcement of Sikhs. For two years
past the armed forces in the Protectorate had consisted of one English officer,
sixty to seventy Indian Sepoys, and about fifty Zanzibaris and Makua (the
latter being natives of Mo9ambique). The Indian soldiers, again, included over
forty Mazbi Sikhs and about twenty Indian Muhammadan cavalrymen. The
term for which these men were allowed to volunteer from the Indian Army
' An important settlement was afterwards founded here and called "Fort Sharpe."
' Subseauently collector for the Upper Shire district.
* He is nowever now exiled to Port Herald on the Lower Shire.
ii8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
would expire in the summer of 1893, and I had therefore made arrangements
with the Indian Government for their relief, but had asked on this occasion, at
the suggestion of Captain Johnson, that when the second Indian contingent
was sent out, all the new Indian soldiers should be Jat Sikhs and not Mazbis.^
Lieut. Edwards brought with him a hundred Sikhs on this occasion. A few
months after their arrival the time expired of the Mazbi Sikhs, and the few
Indian cavalrymen that remained were sent back to India.
- *^ Later on in the year another hundred Sikhs arrived, under
the c<immand of Lieut, (now Captain) W. H. Manning,
thus bringing up the full strength of our Indian contingent
to 200 men, which maximum it has not since exceeded.
In re^L;ard to black troops we had first of all tried natives of
j^^^^^^ Zanzibar, but these men had not proved very satisfactory.
^^■V ^^ rhey uere nearly as expensive as the Sikhs, they were not
^^P^ *^>*„^^^ all of them very brave or- reliable in warfare, and they
y were difficult to procure, owing to the restrictions
which had been placed at that time on the ex-
patriation of the natives of Zanzibar ; restrictions
f A - 1 1 jB rendered absolutely necessary owing to the drain
yf -^ ^^,^^. ^" ^'^ population of that island caused by the
m- ^^^^ engagement of Zanzibaris for the many expedi-
C^* ^' ^^^- V^Bk tions engaged in African exploration. I had been
much struck with the good qualities of the Makua
of Mozambique The escort I had taken with
me in my journeys of 1889-90 was composed of
Makua, recruited at Mo<;ambique. I had also
obtained Makua for the Thomson-Grant expedi-
tion to Bangweolo, and these men after Mr.
Thomson's return had passed into our police
force. We were also beginning to employ as
police the A tonga natives of West Nyasa. I
therefore decided to pay off and send back our
few remaining Zanzibaris, and to replace them
by Makua and natives of Nyasaland. Meantime,
however, at a suggestion from the late Mr. Portal,
i.iEUT.-coL. c. A. EDWARDS I tricd the experiment of forming a small corps
of Zanzibar Arabs (most of them ex-soldiers of
the Sultan of Zanzibar's bodyguard).- These men were of poor physique, and
we only kept them in our service from one to two years. They were very plucky
and, contrary to some people's anticipation, perfectly loyal. ^
During the year 1893 arrangements which had been begun for the division
of the British Central Africa Protectorate and the adjoining Sphere of the
* I need scarcely remind my readers that the Sikhs are not a race but merely a religious sect. They
are really a section of the Panjab people of very varied types of humanity, some being dark coloured and
of almost Dravidian aspect, others having faces of Greek outline and very pale complexions. The Jat
belongs to the cultivator class and is supposed to l)e much more aristocratic than the Mazbi. Between the
Mazbis and the Jats, however, I could see very little difference in general appearance, and to my thinking
both kinds of Sikhs were equally good ; perhaps in one or two points the Mazbis had the advantage in
regard to physical endurance, while on the other hand the Jats were more cheery in disposition, and even
more loyally enthusiastic than the Mazbis. In the days when the Sikhs set much store by caste, the Mazbis
were the "sweepers " or lowest caste of all, and by some were hardly recognised as proper Sikhs.
* A detailed description of our present military force in the Protectorate will be found in the
Appendix to this chapter.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
119
I^ritish South Africa Company into administrative divisions were completed
The Protectorate was divided into twelve districts, the names of which will
be found in the accompanying map. and that portion of the South Africa
Company's territory which we were able to administer was
divided into the districts of Tanganyika, Chambezi, Mweru
and Luapula.^
During my absence in South Africa Mr. Sharpe had
taken an important step towards controlling the Mlanje
district, and guarding our south-eastern border from the
raids of a very troublesome chief, known as Matipwiri.
To check these raids he had founded Fort Lister in the
pass between Mounts Mlanje and Michesi. The idea of
building a fort at this spot was no new one. It had first
occurred to Consul Hawes in 1886, and I had taken up
the idea again after my first visit to Mlanje in 1892. After
that journey I decided that as soon as we could obtain
reinforcements from India, we should build forts to guard
the north and south ends of Mlanje Mountain. These
forts I subsequently named Fort Lister and Fort Anderson
to commemorate the sympathy and assistance I had re-
ceived at the hands of Sir Villiers Lister and Sir Percy
Anderson of the Foreign Office, in carrying out my
projects for the suppression of the slave trade. Captain
C. E. Johnson commenced the construction of Fort Lister,
but although his advent in this country was warmly
welcomed by the indigenous A-nyanja
chiefs, it was anything but welcome to
the Yao slave traders, prominent among whom was the
chieftain named Nyaserera.^ Nyaserera seems to have disliked
the idea of making an attack in force on the fort as long as
it was defended by a white man, but the idea apparently
occurred to him to attempt the assassination of Captain
Johnson. That, at least, was the belief of most of the native
witnesses whom we subsequently examined. What took place
was this : One night as Captain Johnson was sitting down
to dinner in his temporary bungalow he heard a slight noise
in his adjoining sleeping apartment, and on looking up saw
a man with a spear concealed behind a portiere. He at once
attempted to seize the intruder. The latter grappled with
him in the bath-room, to which he had retreated, and stabbed
k B^^HJjji ^^^ Captain till he swooned. He then made off before
f fl^^^^Huti assistance came. This news was conveyed to me by the
Indian hospital assistant at Fort Lister.
I hurried over there with Mr. Whyte, and such was the
panic created amongst the natives by Nyaserera's sudden
evidence of hostility towards us that we had the greatest
difficulty in getting any porters to carry our loads. Part of
* I I^elieve to these districts the South Africa Company have now added the Mpozoni district and the
Luang wa districts. The capital of the latter is Fort Jameson.
' Nyaserera though he ruled Yao and identified himself much with the Vao cause, was in reality
a MIolo from the countries west of Lake Chilwa. The A-lolo are closely related to the Makua and
speak nearly the same language.
A SIKH SOLDIER IN THE
B.C.A. UNIFORM
(black, whitk, yellow, red)
A SIKH SOLDIER IN
FIGHTING KIT
I20
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the way we had to travel through Nyaserera's country, and between bands of
sullen-looking warriors on either side of the narrow path. They would probably
have attacked us but that an escort of Sikhs had come out to meet us from
Fort Lister.
At this place I held meetings with many chiefs, and
endeavoured to detach from Nyaserera his relations and
allies ; and this diplomacy proved so far successful that
when later on Lieut. Edwards arrived from Fort Johnston
he had only Nyaserera to fight, and subdued him after a
brief campaign.
Later in the year further troubles broke out in the
Mlanje district, with the chief Mkanda, whose subjects
had been concerned in recent road robberies, and who was
continually kidnapping women for the slave trade. I took
advantage of the arrival of the second detachment of
ICO Sikhs to bring Mkanda to his senses, but I thought
at first it would be sufficient for him to be made aware
that the Sikhs were encamped in the plain on their way
to Fort Lister, while the collector of the Mlanje district
(Mr. Bell) visited Mkanda in the mountains with a small
escort and delivered an ultimatum, to which I believed
Mkanda would submit. Mkanda, however, was very in-
solent, and his men commenced attacking Mr. Bell's escort.
To protect themselves in retreating the escort set fire to
some houses and loose stacks of grass for thatching, and
succeeded in reaching the main force encamped in the
plain. They then com-
municated with Captain
Johnson at Fort Lister,
and awaited instructions as to further pro-
cedure. Mkanda took advantage of this tem-
porary inaction to attack the Scotch Mission
station on the borders of his territory. The
missionaries took to flight and Mkanda's men
gutted and burnt most of the houses, and
succeeded in carrying off several guns and a
quantity of ammunition. Fortunately the up-
rising spread no farther, and the other Yao
chiefs did not join in, though Matipwiri sent
out skirmishers to see what he could do in the
way of highway robbery.
Mkanda's men also intercepted and slew
several Atonga labourers on their way to a
European plantation, but after several days'
hard fighting among the crags and precipices
of Mlanje, Captain Johnson succeeded in
capturing all Mkanda's positions, and Mkanda
fled.
His near relation Kada, who had remained on our side during this struggle,
succeeded him in the chieftainship. Most of his people returned when peace
was made, and were allowed to settle in the plains instead of amongst the
A SIKH SOLDIER IN
FIGHTING KIT
SIKH SOLDIER IN UNDRESS
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 121
mountains. Mkanda himself eventually made terms with us and returned to
his country. So did Nyaserera, who, strange to say, is now one of our greatest
friends.
It was perhaps just as well that this outbreak occurred when it did, as
it prevented Mkanda attacking us when all our forces were subsequently
engaged in the Makanjira expedition. For this expedition I had been
continually preparing since the death of Captain Maguire. I had succeeded
in getting the gunboats placed on Lake Nyasa and the Upper Shire. These
vessels were now completed, and in the summer of 1893 Admiral Bedford,^
Commander-in-chief on the Cape Station, had paid me a visit at Zomba,
and had proceeded with me to Lake Nyasa to witness the launching of
the two gunboats and to inspect the already completed vessel for the Upper
Shire.
I had discussed the need for this expedition with Mr. Rhodes when
COLLECTOR S HOUSE AT FORT LISTER
visiting Capetown, and he had agreed in addition to the ordinary subsidies
of the Company to find ;£ 10,000 ^ for increasing the police force in order to
grapple with Makanjira and subdue him. This aid had enabled us to obtain
an additional 100 Sikhs from India, who came out under the command
of Lieut. W. H. Manning.^ It was high time we moved because our faithful
ally Jumbe was almost at his last gasp. A certain Yao headman of Jumbe's
named Chiwaura had been encouraged by Makanjira to rebel, and with
the assistance of Makanjira's men had defeated Jumbe and forced him
to retire to his capital. Chiwaura had built a very strong town about five
miles inland from Kotakota, with high loopholed walls of red clay, and an
inner citadel surrounded by trees of great girth. Except on one side
Chiwaura's town was surrounded by an impassable marsh, a swamp which it
was almost impossible to cross.
Accordingly we decided first of all to relieve Jumbe before proceeding
against Makanjira directly. The African Lakes Company's boats Domira
and Ilala were chartered to convey the troops, while some of the oflScers
* Now Sir Frederick Bedford, k.c.b.
' Of which sum over ;f 4,000 were spent and the balance returned to Mr. Rhodes.
' Now Captain Manning and second in command of the B. C. A. forces.
122 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
and myself travelled on the gunboats which were under the direction of
Commander Robertson, R.N. The officers consisted of Captain Johnson,
Lieut. Edwards, Dr. Watson, and a volunteer in the person of Mr. Glave,
who had come out to Central Africa to study these countries on behalf of
the Century, an American magazine.^ Mr. .Alfred Sharpe also accompanied
the expedition.
Our terms were rejected by Chiwaura who felt
illimitable confidence in his clay walls, not realising
that his town was absolutely at the mercy of a
bombardment. It lay in a marshy plain within 700
yards of the precipitous clififs of a little plateau. The
approach to this plateau was not defended by
Chiwaura, though he might have made it very
difficult for our forces to get there except with
great loss of men ; but without other difficulties
than those attending transport on men's heads, we
succeeded in planting our 7-pounder guns on the
edge of the aforementioned cliffs. From this position
we shelled Chiwaura, and the main town was soon
in flames. The people retired to the inner citadel,
which was not in the same way destructible, since the
CAPT. vv. H. MANNING ^j^^jj^ ^^^^.^^ harmlessly in the adjoining forest. The
enemy after a while called for a truce, but more
Africano employed this interval in the hostilities to strengthen his defences,
and when he was ready to begin again he announced the fact by firing on
our soldiers when they approached the walls under cover of the truce. In
fact in African warfare the hoisting of a white flag really means, " I want a
breathing spell," and when both sides are rested they go on again without
troubling themselves to announce the cessation of the truce.
Jumbe had put 4,000 men under arms and had accompanied us to the
scene of the fight, where he remained the whole of the time with his head
wives. Jumbe though old and feeble was not lacking in bravery, and would
willingly have risked his life against Chiwaura had I not held him back,
but Jumbe's commander was by no means a rash man. He was gaudily
dressed in scarlet cloth and had innumerable charms hung about him to
dispel ill-luck, but he was very much afraid of coming to close quarters
with the enemy. During the truce we would watch with amusement this
great mass of several thousand men surge across the quarter of a mile of
plain which lay between us and Chiwaura's town, but as soon as a gun was
discharged from the ramparts by the enemy, Jumbe's commander would shout
" Tamanga ! tamanga ! " (Run ! run !), and the whole four thousand would surge
back to the base of the cliffs. At last the afternoon was drawing towards
evening, and the enemy showed no disposition to yield. Jumbe's people
were beginning to doubt whether the white man was equal to taking such a
place as Chiwaura's. It was necessary to show them that not only could we
set a place on fire at a distance of half a mile through our shells, but if
incumbent on us we could come to close quarters and take a town by
^ Mr. Glave wa.s an Englishman who had served with Stanley on the Congo. He subsequently
journeyed through British Central Africa to the Congo Free State, thence down the Congo to the
vicinity of the Atlantic Ocean, where he unfortunately died of fever Ijefore he proceeded on board the
ocean-going steamer.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
123
assault, even at the risk of losing lives in so doing. Accordingly Captain
Johnson gave orders for a general assault, and with about seventy Sikhs
and thirty Makua dashed across the plain through the ruined precincts of
the outer town and up to the high wall of the inner citadel, over which he
and the other officers and the Sikhs swarmed and scrambled. The first Sikh
FHE RAPHIA PALM MARSH BEHIND CHI^VAURA^
who succeeded in climbing to the top of the wall, which was about eight
feet high, and began to haul up his comrades, was shot dead. Otherwise
there were no casualties on our part but severe wounds. Once the troops had
got on the top of this high wall of the citadel the enemy were completely
at their mercy and huddled together in a seething mass below. Appalled at
the idea of the slaughter that must ensue from continual firing, Captain
Johnson gave the order " cease firing." This leniency on his part was taken
124 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
by the enemy for sudden fear, and a furious fusillade was opened on our men
by which several more were wounded. Then with or without order our guns
went off, and numbers of the enemy were shot down. The bulk of them,,
however, including Chiwaura, scrambled over the further wall and dropped
into the marsh below, where a good many of them were drowned. Chiwaura
himself was shot as he was running away, and fell dead into the marsh. The
citadel was then entered by our men, and hundreds of women were found
cooped up in the houses, many of them in slave sticks. They were set free
and directed to proceed to Kotakota, where many of them had their homes.^
That same night our forces returned to Kotakota. The next two days were
spent in levelling the walls of Chiwaura s town.
We then decided to proceed down the south-west shore of the lake, part of
us going overland and the remainder on the gunboats and steamers to the Rifu
peninsula, which was strongly held by Makanjira, whose relation Kuluunda.
a famous woman chief amongst the Yao, had displaced Kazembe, our ally and
her nephew. Whilst attacking Kazembe's old town (Kazembe himself had
joined us with a few men remaining faithful to him) we received information
that a dau had just crossed from Makanjira's with seventy fighting men
on board, and a lai^e quantity of gunpowder, and would probably land in
" Leopard Bay." H.M.S. Pioneer was dispatched thither under the command
of Lieut. Villiers, R.N. Although the Pioneer did not succeed in preventing
the dau from reaching the shore she fired into her and disabled her so that she
stranded on the rocks. But Makanjira's men succeeded in escaping to the hill
overlooking Leopard Bay where they were joined by the defeated enemy
who had been driven out of Kazembe's town. The situation was further
complicated by the arrival of a large Arab slave-trading caravan, commanded
by four or five white Arabs and containing several hundred slaves. The Arabs
joined their forces to those of Kuluunda and Makanjira, and for several days
we besieged these people by land and water round the lofty hill which overlooks
Leopard Bay. Eventually the Arabs of the slave caravan, Kuluunda, and most
of her followers were captured or surrendered; but meantime a force of Jumbe's
men was left to continue the siege of the hill while our Sikhs, Makua, and 300
of Jumbe's soldiers, together with Jumbe himself and all the officers, were
conveyed across the lake to Makanjira s main town. We had made the journey
by way of Monkey Bay so as to have a short rest before embarking on the
most critical part of ^ our programme. We had timed ourselves to arrive at
Makanjira's town at dawn. The enemy were taken somewhat by^surprise, and
we succeeded in effecting a landing on the sandy promontory to the south
of Makanjira's huge straggling metropolis of many thousand huts and houses
without meeting with any serious resistance. This promontory was separated
from the town by a strip of low-lying swampy country. After entrenching
ourselves in a camp the bulk of our forces started with Captain Johnson,
Lieut. Edwards, and Mr. Glave to try conclusions with Makanjira's forces,
while the town was shelled over their heads by Mr. Sharpe from the camp
and from the two gunboats which steamed along the shore. The Pioneer found
^ Not a few of these poor women were far gone with child, and the terror of the bombardment
so upset them that on the way to Kotakota woman after woman sat down by the way and gave birth to a
child, which she straightway abandoned in her panic fear of Chiwaura's pursuit. It was a quaint though
touching sight to see the Sikh soldiers pravely gathering up the new-bom babes and carrying them with
their many other burdens of rifle and kit into Kotakota, where they were afterwards impartially distributed
among the various women who claimed to be recently parturient. Never in any historical tale or
Gilbertian burlesque were l)abies so hopelessly *' mixed."
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
125
one of Makanjira's daus drawn up in a narrow creek near to or at the place
where Captain Maguire had been killed. In spite of a heavy fire from the
enemy this dau was attached by a hawser to the gunboat,^ and towed out into
the lake.2
After about five hours' fighting Makanjira's forces gave up the struggle and
disappeared. We then had at our mercy his many villages. Several times he
asked for terms of peace, but apparently, without any idea but to gain time.
The place where Captain Maguire had been killed and Boyce and McEwan
ON THE BEACH AT MONKEY BAY
massacred was destroyed, with several other villages and towns in Makanjira's
country. These extreme measures were only resorted to, however, after
Makanjira had refused our terms of peace.
Kuluunda was sent as an exile to Port Herald on the Shire.^
As Makanjira would not make peace with us I had now to consider what
steps should be taken to occupy his country. Some of my staff were of opinion
that it would be better after destroying the towns to remove our forces, as we
could always return on other occasions and prevent any attempt on the part
of Makanjira to rebuild; but my own views were different. It seemed to me
* This deed was accomplished by Hajji Askar, a l*ersian, who was an interpreter on board the
Pioneer.
' It now plies to and fro across the lake under the British flag conveying natives over the Government
ferry.
* In 1896 she was allowed to return to her country on the promise of good behaviour.
126
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
that the expeditions against Makanjira would have to be annual unless we
permanently occupied his country. I therefore decided to leave Major Edwards
behind with a large force of Sikhs to build a strong fort near the place where
Captain Maguire had been killed. This fort was then named " Fort Maguire."
Having chosen the site and seen the British flag hoisted with great ceremony
I returned to Zomba and spent the winter in attending to the civil organisation
of the Protectorate. At the beginning of 1894 Makanjira attacked Fort
Maguire and the surrounding villages with a large force of men, but was
defeated with great loss by Captain Edwards, who soon after succeeded
Captain Johnson as the senior officer in command of the B.C.A. forces.
ONK OF MAKANJIRA S CAPTURED DAUS AT MONKEY BAY
Early in this year Mr. Harrhy, who had been lent by the Postmaster-General
of Cape Colony (Mr. French) for a year to organise our Postal Service, returned
to Cape Town, and his place was taken by Mr. J. E. McMaster (now Vice-
Consul at Chinde), who has been a most efficient Postmaster-General.
\ In April, 1894, I returned to England for a much-needed holiday, Mr.
^ Sharpe conducting the administration of the country during my absence.
Besides reasons of health which necessitated this return, the time had come
when the development of the Protectorate required its administration to be
placed on a thoroughly sound basis, and the period during which the South
Africa Company had agreed to contribute towards the cost of its administration
being near expiration it would be necessary for Her Majesty's Government
to consider the financial provision which was needed for the future maintenance
o
X
X
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 129
of the Protectorate. The summer and autumn of 1894 were spent in making
these arrangements, the results of which were that the Civil Service was hence-
forth efficiently organised, and the South Africa Company's subsidies were
devoted to the administration of the Company's own territory; the direct
administration of which was taken over from me by the Company in 1895.
The Imperial Government repaid to the South Africa Company and to Mr.
Rhodes a proportion of the sums spent on the defence and development of the
Protectorate.
The Civil Service of the Protectorate and the Postal Service were put on a
satisfactory footing. A postage stamp ^ was designed and issued. Arrangements
were made for taking over the lake gunboats from the Admiralty and working
them henceforth by the Administration of the Protectorate.
Freed from all future anxieties concerning finance I started for India to
THE BEACH AT MAKANJIRA's (PRESENT SITE OK FORT MAGUIRE)
settle the question of the Indian contingent on a definite basis with the
Indian authorities.
A very satisfactory arrangement was come to, lasting six years, which ^
permits of our employing as many as 200 Sikhs from the Indian Army in
British Central Africa.
I left India on the ist of April, 1895, and reached Chinde on the 19th of
that month, and Zomba on the 4th of May. I found that during my absence
everything had proceeded smoothly until the early spring of 1895, when the
Yao chief Kawinga, whose attitude had long been threatening, had attempted
a very serious attack on the British Protectorate. He had felt his way by first
raiding the villciges of a chief named Malemia, in whose territory the Church of
* The design for this was slightly altered of late and differently printed, but remains practically the
same as that devised in 1 894. It consists of the Coat of Arms of the Protectorate (which is on the
cover of this book). This Coat of Arms was designed by me, with the assistance and advice of Sir Albert
Woods It may be described as a shield sable, with a pile or, and over all a fimbriated cross argent, bearing
an inescutcheon gules on which is imprinted the Royal Arms in or. The shield is poised on an outspread
map of Africa ; supporters, two negroes, one carrying a pick and the other a shovel ; crest, a coffee-tree in
full bearing ; motto, ** Light in darkness." Put in plain language the shield is intended to illustrate our
three colours, black, yellow, and white, with a touch of the English red. Into the sable mass of Africa
I have driven a pile (wedge) of Indian yellow. Over all is the white cross, representing in its best
significations the all-embracing white man. The inescutcheon of English red shows the Arms of the
protecting Power. The motto, *' Light in darkness," was the suggestion of the late Sir Percy Anderson.
I30 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Scotland Mission was established. Mr. Sharpe sent a small force of Sikhs and
Atonga under Corporal William Fletcher, and an Atonga sergeant named
Bandawe, to defend Malemia's principal village where the Scotch missionaries
were.
This expedition, which only consisted of six Sikhs and a few Atonga,
built a "boma"^ to protect themselves against any sudden attack from
Kawinga. It was fortunate they did so, because a day or two afterwards he
descended on them with 2,000 men, many of them recruited from amongst the
warlike Anguru of the countries east of Lake Chilwa. It appears that Kawinga,
in alliance with Zarafi and Matipwiri, had really resolved on attempting
to drive the British out of the Shire Highlands. An attack was first to
be made on the unarmed Mission stations at Domasi Their men, whetted
with success, would then feel the necessary courage to attack the Residency at
Zomba. Having captured this and possibly succeeded in murdering the Com-
missioner, the forces of Zarafi and Kawinga would advance on Blantyre, whilst
THREK OF MAKANJIKA'S CAPTURED DAUS (FORT MACUIRE)
Matipwiri sweeping through the Mlanje district, would unite his forces to theirs,
and the Yao then counted on taking possession of the gunboats at Chiromo.
Zarafi had sent his son and some of his fighting men to assist in the preliminary
attack on Domasi.
War with Kawinga was always felt, since our abortive attack on his
positions in 1 89 1, to be a serious affair not lightly to be encountered. We had
therefore put up with a great deal of robberies, outrages and slave kidnapping
on the part of Kawinga without renewing the war with him till we had larger
forces at our disposal. Mr. Sharpe therefore at first intended to do no more
than guard the approaches to the main station at Domasi,- though he made
preparations for assembling as large a force of Sikhs and Atonga as were
available.
Kawinga's aggressive action however got no farther than " Fletcher's
boma.'* This trumpery little fort was so splendidly defended by the Sikhs
* Boma is a Swahili word meaning *' a fence," "a stockade." It is a term which has come into
general use in British Central Africa, and is often applied to Government stations, most of which were at
first [)rovided with some such defence.
'-^ Domasi station was defended by Mr. S. Hewitt-Fletcher, 2n(l Accountant to the British Central
Africa Administration. Some confusion arose between the two Fletchers in the suljsequent newspajXT
descriptions.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
131
and the Atonga that the Yao again and again recoiled before the well-directed
rifle fire. At last the ammunition on the side of the British was giving out»
and in spite of the heavy losses amounting to over a hundred men on the part
of the enemy it looked as though the defence must come to an end. At
this juncture a reinforcement of Atonga was seen to be arriving, brought up
by two planters, Messrs. Hynde and Starke. Bandawe proposed to Fletcher
that they should charge the demoralised enemy who were already aware of
the approach of reinforcements. Accordingly the defenders sallied out from
the fort firing their last volleys. The Yao broke and fled, and were pursued
for miles by the Sikhs and Atonga. Many prisoners were captured by
Malemia's men, who had hitherto decidedly "sat on the fence," apparently
ready, had Kawinga prevailed, to side with the conqueror against the British.
A RURAL POST OFFICE, BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Among the prisoners taken was a son of Zarafi, whom Malemia caused to
be beheaded.
Kawinga retired to his mountain of Chikala. It seemed however to Mr.
Sharpe that whilst the army remained demoralised was the time to definitely
bring this struggle with Kawinga to a close. At this time his reinforcements of
Sikhs had arrived from Fort Johnston under the command of Lieut. Hamilton
and Captain W. H. Manning.
Kawinga's stronghold was approached by a new route and the enemy
were taken by surprise. They defended the fords of the rivers with some
pertinacity, and a few casualties took place amongst our native soldiers and
allies. But while the main approach to the town was still being contested
132
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Lieut. Hamilton had entered the place with his Sikhs from another quarter and
the enemy broke and fled.^
With the subdual of Kawinga the road robberies, except in the Mlanje
district, came to an end ; a sense of security spread over the southern portion
of the Protectorate which was quite pleasantly unfamiliar. It was felt that in a
very trying crisis Mr. Sharpe
had acted with decision and
promptitude and without flurry,
and many of the European
settlers expressed the sense of
obligation which they felt to-
wards Mr. Sharpe.
In other respects the record
of the Protectorate during my
absence in England had been
singularly peaceful. By negotia-
tions which Mr. Sharpe had
commissioned Major Edwards
to undertake, a civil war that
had long raged between the
Angoni chiefs Chikusi and
Chifisi was brought to a close.'^
Mr. Sharpe returned to
England on leave of absence,
and Major Edwards and myself
began to make steady prepara-
tions for the inevitable cam-
paign against Zarafi, a campaign
rendered absolutely necessar>'
because this chief finding that
he was not visited with war
after his co-operation in the
Kawinga raids, began to attack
Fort Johnston. However, our
plans in regard to Zarafi were
temporarily postponed because
Matipwiri attacked one of our
hill patrols in the Mlanje dis-
trict, and it was obvious that this chief would renew his raids in that direction
directly our forces were engaged with Zarafi.
I was at Chiromo when the news came of Matipwiri's hostility. I therefore
* Kawinga has subsequently made peace with us, and though not allowed to return to Chikala he is
stationed on British territory. Chikala Mountain is now guarded by a fort. As an instance of the rapid
way in which the negro accepts the results of an appeal to force, and his want of rancour, I may state
these facts : that when in 1896 we proceeded against Zarafi Kawinga did his very best to help us, givinp
as his reason for so doing ** that he had been well beaten by the British ; it was now time that Zarafi had
a licking." Kawinga*s son provided us with guides who led us along the best route to Zarafi's country,
and Kawinga sent with me a special bodyguard of Yao who were charged to look after my personal
safety, and who (pertainly did their best in this respect.
* In this war Chikusi, who was a very ill-conditioned young fellow, had been the aggressor, and the
way in which he was almost compelled to make peace with Chifisi left a certain amount of rancour in
his mind against the British, which ill-feeling finally culminated in his attacking the British Protectorate
in the autumn of 1896, in his defeat, and death. In our counter attack on Chikusi we had the entire
support of Chifisi and his men.
WATCH TOWER AT FORT JOHNSTON
ERECTED BY CAPTAIN C. E. JOHNSON TO WATCH ZARAFI,
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
133
A SIKH SERGEANT-MAJOR OF THE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA CONTINGENT
Started for Mlanje where I arranged to rendezvous with Major Edwards.
We made very careful preparations and suddenly fell on Matipwiri, travelling
all night over the distance which separated his principal town from Fort
Lister. His men made but a feeble stand and Matipwiri and his brother
Kumtiramanja ^ fled to Tundu hill, where they made their last stand. From
this position they were driven off by Captain the Hon. W. E. Cavendish
and Lieut. Coape-Smith, and large supplies of war material were abandoned
' The more powerful chief of the two.
134
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
in their flight and captured by Captain Cavendish. Subsequently both Matip-
wiri and Kumtiramanja were taken prisoners by Lieut. Coape-Smith. A fort
was built in their country and Matipwiri's former subjects settled down verv-
contentedly under our rule, and the country has since been perfectly peaceful.
This settlement was rendered all the easier because Matipwiri, like most of the
Yao chiefs, was a usurper, and not a native of the district in which he had
established himself Many of his subjects belonged to the A-lolo stock and
spoke a language akin to Makua.
From the hills in Matipwiri's country we were able to look out eastwards
over a most wonderful country
hitherto untraversed by any white
man, but within the Portuguese
Sphere of Influence. We could
see splendid ranges of mountains
almost as high as Mlanje — that
is to say, reaching in parts to an
altitude of 8,000 feet. When the
interior of Portuguese East Africa
is opened up this A-lolo country
should become a great resort of
European planters, as it is very
fertile and admirably well watered.
In the Matipwiri expedition
we had for the first time tried
our new military organisation,
especially in regard to the Native
levies, and we were greatly en-
couraged by the results and
proceeded with some confidence
on the expedition against Zarafi,
This expedition was brought to a
completely successful result after
a week's fighting in which we lost
our best Sikh non-commissioned
officer. The heights of Mangoche
Mountain were successfully taken
by storm, the lost 7 - pounder
cannon was recovered, and Zarafi
fled far .to the eastward into
Portuguese East Africa, where of course we were unable to follow him. A
fort was planned on the site of Zarafi's town, and was subsequently built
by Lieut. Alston. We then proceeded to try conclusions with Mponda,
who after several years of doubting had at last decided to renew his struggle
with us and had retired to a strong place, Mauni, in the mountains of the
Cape Maclear peninsula. Major Edwards started with a strong force for Mauni,
but Mponda at the last moment deemed discretion to be the better part of
valour, and, eluding the force sent against him, came down in a canoe to
Fort Johnston and surrendered to me. As much bloodshed was saved by
this act of Mponda's I dealt as leniently with him as possible, and secured
to him his personal property, though I deemed it necessary to send him
away from his country for a time as his presence was so obnoxious to the mass
NATIVE SOLDIERS, BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
135
of the population which of late years had placed themselves under the British.
Mponda, like most of the other chiefs in the southern part of the Protectorate,
was of Yao origin, and the bulk of his subjects were A-nyanja.
Major Edwards now advanced against Makanjira who of late had renewed
his raids into British territory and had
founded a new capital in the hills, just
over the British side of the border, and
about ten miles from the south-east coast
of Lake Nyasa. This town was taken
and destroyed by Lieut. Coape- Smith.
Makanjira's forces were completely routed
and fled in disorder into Portuguese
territory.
On my return to Fort Johnston from
Zarafi's I received letters from Karonga
at the north end of Lake Nyasa and from
Mr. Crawshay, the Vice-Consul at Deep
Bay, informing me that the situation at
the north end of the lake was serious, as
Mlozi and the Arabs were now raiding in
all directions for slaves, and openly an-
nounced their intention of fighting the
British as soon as the rainy season began.
Mlozi had captured and severely flogged
a. lay missionary named Stevens ; he had
even threatened the Free Church Mission
station near Fife on the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, and Dr. Cross, a medical mission-
ary, had been obliged to proceed to that
place to bring away the wife of the
missionary through German territory.
Mlozi had amongst other things
attacked the populous villages of the
Awa-wandia, and besides slaughtering
many of the men had carried off* women
and children to his stronghold. He had
concluded an alliance with the powerful
Awemba tribe to the west, and it was
obvious that unless we moved first he
would soon be attacking Karonga with
an overwhelming force. I may state here
parenthetically that since my return from
England I had in July, 1895, made a
special journey to the north end of Lake
Nyasa to see Mlozi and persuade him to
keep the peace according to the original
treaty concluded by him in 1889; but on
arriving at Karonga Mlozi had flatly refused to see me, and had even written
me a very threatening letter, in the course of which he remarked, "The
British have closed my route to the coast : very well, I will close their road
to Tanganyika."
AN ATONGA SOLDIER
136
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Tlu* Ar.iljs vvure iimi Mc to j^^o to
war with us at that tinK\ nn<\ aisu they
wished first of all to gather in their
crops. They knew besides that the
Europeans fought at a disadvantage in the rainy season, and it was evident
if we did not take steps to reduce the Arab power before the end of December
they would attack us in January with many chances in their favour.
Accordingly with some reluctance I resolved to continue our campaigns
on Lake Nyasa" by an expedition against the Arabs. Our little force had by
this time been nicknamed the "ever victorious army." We had now 400 men
(100 Sikhs and 300 natives) on whom we could place absolute reliance, and
the force had been strengthened by the advent of several volunteer officers.
The officers on the staff consisted of Major C. A. Edwards ; Captain F. T.
Stewart;^ Captain the Honble. W. E. Cavendish; Lieut. H. Coape- Smith;
Lieut. G. de Herries Smith ; and Lieut. Alston \^ Dr. Wordsworth Poole and
Sergeant-Major Devoy.
It was essential that the Arabs should be taken by surprise ; that we should
fall on them with ail our available force and surround their strongholds before
they could escape to the interior, for they might prefer to run away instead of
fighting out the struggle, which they could renew at a more convenient season.
Therefore, our most important problem was how to transport 400 men, seven
officers and the necessary munitions of war in one trip. The gunboats would
only carry about fifteen men each and a similar proportion of our stores ; the
African Lakes Company's steamer Domira could not take much more than
^ Who with Captain Cavendish was left to watch Makanjira and 2^rafi.
'■^ The Volunteers were Major L. Bradshaw (of the 35th Sikhs), Major F. C. Trollope (Grenadier
Ciuards), and last, but not least, Mr. Walter Gordon Cumming. These gentlemen served in the autumn
campaign of 1895 without pay and at their own expense. Major Trollope and Mr. Gordon Cummin^
were visiting the country for the purposes of sport. Major Bradshaw, who was a brother officer of
Major Edwards, and assisted us when in India to recruit Sikhs, was very anxious to study the question of
Indian soldiers fighting in Africa, and had obtained leave of absence so that he might join our campaign.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
137
100 men. I bethought myself of the German steamer the Wtssmanny which was
fortunately at that moment lying off Fort Johnston. I had an interview with
her Commander, Captain Berndt, and relying on him as a man of honour,
communicated my plans to him, and asked whether I could hire the German
steamer to carry them out. He at once assented and proposed terms which
were generous financially as they provided merely for the working expenses of
the steamer. I may say here that my plans were kept absolutely secret by
Captain Berndt, and that no hint reached the Arabs as to our intentions.
Major Edwards and I made a hasty journey to Zomba for final preparations
and the expedition left Fort Johnston on the 24th of November, 1895. On the
way to the north end of the lake Major Edwards fell ill, so that when we landed
at Karonga I was temporarily deprived of the services of my commander-in-
chief, who for a few days was obliged to lie up. But his plans had been so well
DEEP BAY STATION
laid that they were carried out without a hitch by Lieut. Coape-Smith, who
succeeded him temporarily in the command. Major Bradshaw was also an
invalid, but fortunately both he and Major Edwards recovered in time to take
part in the final assault on Mlozi s stockade. Our plan of campaign was this :^
Mlozi's stockaded town was situated about eleven miles inland from Karonga,
the station of the African Lakes Company on the shore of Lake Nyasa. About
six miles inland from Karonga were the stockades of Msalemu and Kopakopa
which guarded the ford of the River Rukuru. Mlozi's town was in the plain
near the south bank of the River Rukuru. It was overlooked by a ridge of hills
to the south which ran transversely to the course of the river. The Arab road
from Kopakopa's stockade to Mlozi's ran through a pass in these hills, and this
low range on the side of the pass nearest the river terminated in a rather high
house-shaped hill which it was possible to climb to the summit, and where guns
could be planted. Our idea was to send out about 300 men and a number of
' In drawing up this plan at Zomba Major Edwards and I were greatly helped by the notes and
maps of Mlozi's stockade which had been made for us by Dr. Kerr Cross and Major Trollope.
138 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
officers under the command of Lieut. Coape-Smith, who should proceed by
a circuitous course northwards till they came opposite Mlozi's town, with the
River Rukuru running in between. This march should be undertaken at
night and the River Rukuru forded in the darkness, opposite the house-shaped
hill, which eminence was to be seized and garri.soned by one division under
Major Trollope. Lieut. Coape-Smith was then to place a section of his force
under Lieut. Alston to guard the approach to the River Rukuru from Mlozi's
town. A further division under Mr. Gordon Gumming was to pass round to
the back of Mlozi's town and take up a position to the west of it. Major
Trollope's force by occupying the house-shaped hill would command the pass
through which the road to Kotakota passed, and thus be able to cut oflF Mlozi's
retreat in that direction. Mr. Walter Gordon Cumming's force would be able
to check his flight westward and Lieut. Alston prevent him from crossing the
MLOZI, CHIEF OF THE NORTH NYASA ARABS
River Rukuru to the Tanganyika road. Having posted these three divisions
in the darkness of the night Lieut. Coape - Smith was to return along the
banks of the river to Kopakopa's, and meet me there at eight o'clock in the
morning ; for I in the meantime should have started with the naval division
and a force of Sikhs under Lieut, de Herries Smith and have attacked, and
presumably mastered Kopakopa and Msalemu. Lieut. Coape-Smith accordingly
left Karonga at eight o'clock at night on the ist of December, and although
it was raining cats and dogs and the night was pitch dark he carried out
the whole of the operations entrusted to him without a single mistake or
deviation, and punctually turned up at Kopakopa at eight o'clock next
morning. I left at five o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of December with
a strong force of artillery under Commander Percy Cullen, R.N.R. (the senior
naval officer on Lake Nyasa), and accompanied by Lieut. Rhoades and
Phillips (of the Lake Nyasa gunboats) ; the petty officers of the said
gunboats; Sergeant -Major Devoy ; Dr. Poole; and Lieut. Herries Smith
who commanded the Sikhs. We reached Msalemu's stockades soon after
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 139
daylight, and began to shell it. A few shots were fired by the enemy, but
their resistance was soon overcome and they fled from Msalemu's and
Kopakopa simultaneously, and crossed the Rukuru River. We therefore
entered the stockades and took possession of them. Kopakopa however
had resolved to make but little stand here and to unite his force with those
of Mlozi in the defence of the latter town, where the war would really be
fought out. He had therefore retreated from his stockade in the night,
directly the rumour of our landing had reached him, and although he lost
some of his men from the fire of Major Trollope's party he succeeded in
effecting his retreat to Mlozi's.
After a short rest at Kopakopa's we marched along the Arab road to Mlozi's
stockade and came up with Major Trollope's force at i p.m. Getting the guns
into position Commander Cullen commenced a'most effective fire, which would
have probably burned Mlozi's town to the ground then and there but for a
terribly heavy rain falling at the time. The enemy returned our fire with
THE TRANSPORTS ON THEIR WAY TO KARONGA
ARRIVING IN LIKOMA BAY, EAST KYASA
vigour but could only use against us rifles, muzzle-loading guns, and one
muzzle-loading cannon. Although their firing was fairly good we kept pretty
much outside their range. We sheltered ourselves in one or two outlying
villages which apparently had been built for the housing of slaves. One of
these settlements was within 250 yards of the main entrance of Mlozi's stockade
and this we managed to occupy, with only one serious casualty. It is true
we were not very well sheltered from Mlozi's fire in this position, but then the
fire of his men was rather high and the bullets whistled harmlessly over our
heads. We now drew the cordon tighter round Mlozi's stockade in an almost
continuous ring of armed men. About 700 Wankonde people had tendered
their services as carriers for our guns, and these men though unwilling to get
within fire still assisted us in repelling sorties from the stockade, which, as the
bombardment continued, became fiercer and more frequent.
Mlozi's town was of large extent, perhaps half a square mile in area, and
it was surrounded by a rather remarkable stockade which consisted of a double
fence of withes thoroughly coated with hard clay and with a flat roof of wooden
beams, thatch and clay. This hollow stockade was cut up by transverse parti-
tions into innumerable dwellings. It was loopholed in two rows and pits were
dug below the level of the ground for the shelter of the defenders who fired
HO BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
from the upper and the lower loopholes. Here and there angles of the
stockade were guarded by specially strong bastions, and in most places there
was a kind of moat below the glacis of the stockade. At intervals small gate-
ways had been made, their doors being of heavy hewn planks and the passages
through the doorway into the town most intricate. It was an admirable
stockade for the purpose as shells had no effect on it, merely making a round
hole as they passed through, the resistance being too weak to cause any breach
to be made by an exploding shell. Mlozi's weakness lay, however, in his not
having built his stockade alongside the water from which he was separated
by nearly a quarter of a mile. We had cut him off* from his water supply, and
although rain fell in abundance the water obtained was not sufficient for the
enormous number of people cooped up in the stockade, and the cattle. More-
over within the stockade the houses were closely packed with inflammable grass
roofs, and these were soon set on fire by incendiary shells. Naturally many
of the people took shelter in pits below the ground ; still the bombardment
caused great loss of life. A sortie en force was made on the night of the
2nd of December, but was smartly repelled by Commander Cullen with his
Nordenfelt gun.
At seven o'clock in the morning of the following day just as we had resumed
our artillery fire, Mlozi hoisted a flag of truce. We ceased firing and I walked
up to within a short distance of the walls to meet Mlozi who had come out
of the main gateway. I was going to meet him face to face, but that one
of the black sailors of the gunboats, a native of Zanzibar, warned me that
he had overheard the Arabs advising Mlozi to stab me as soon as I came from
under the guns of the fort and then to retreat through the open gateway. This
may or may not have been Mlozi's intention. At any rate I deemed it prudent
to halt him at about eight yards distance, and from this point I spoke to him.
He asked what would be our terms of peace and I replied "the immediate
surrender of himself and all the other Arabs and of their fighting men, and the
giving up of their guns and the release of all slaves held in the fort." If he
would fulfil these conditions I promised the Arabs and all their men their lives,,
but declined to commit myself to any other promises until I had investigated
the whole case. Mlozi after some hesitation said that he would return and
consult Kopakopa. Meantime two of his leading men were given to us as
hostages, so that we might approach nearer to the fort and converse with the
Arabs. Presently, however, an Arab — it may have been Mlozi — came out
of the gateway and shouted to us that they would go on fighting ; if we wanted
them we must come and take them. We therefore released the hostages and
allowed them to return, but before the flag of truce could be taken down Mlozi
had opened fire on Lieut. Alston and on my camp. Fortunately the bullets
passed through Lieut. Alston's helmet and left him uninjured, while I had just
entered a hut and so escaped the fire directed at me.
I hesitated to sanction an immediate assault on the stockade as it appeared
likely to result in a terrible loss of life to our men. I therefore decided it was
best that we should continue the bombardment and protract the war, so as
to cause Mlozi to use up much of his ammunition before we finally assaulted
the stockade. But matters were precipitated by the excellence of our artillery
fire. A refugee Mhenga chief, who had escaped from the stockade during the
truce, pointed out to us the exact situation of Mlozi's house, the roof of which
rose somewhat above the other buildings. Commander Cullen sighted a
g-pounder gun very carefully, and Sergeant- Major Devoy landed three shells
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
141
in the middle of this, one passing through the doorway and killing four men.
One of the shells that burst in Mlozi's house, wounded Mlozi in the head
and killed one of his followers. The rumoui went about that Mlozi was dead
and a furious sortie took place — a sortie which elicited from us no pity because
it was almost as much an impetuous attack on our own positions. The bullets
simply whistled through the air, and it was marvellous that we did not meet
with more casualties; but our soldiers fought splendidly, and strange to say
the timid Wankonde also came to the front and between two and three hundred
of Mlozi's men were shot or speared ; amongst them fell four Arabs, one of
them alleged to be Kopakopa, though it would afterwards seem he was
Kopakopa of Tanganyika, and not the man who had built the stockade
A CORNER OF MLOZI S STOCKADE
near Karonga. The latter is said to have been severely wounded but
is still living in the Senga country. Our attempts to repulse the sortie
brought the Sikhs close up to the walls, and somehow or other with or without
command from their officers they scaled the ramparts and stood on the roof.
Lieuts. de Herries Smith and Coape- Smith were dragged up on to the roof
of the stockade by the first Sikhs who had got there, and the first man to
jump down into the stockade was Lieut, de Herries Smith, who immediately
fell, shot through the right arm. Lieut. Coape-Smith and Mr. Gordon Gumming
followed Herries Smith, lifted him up and carried him out of the Arab fire.
Majors Edwards and Bradshaw had by this time arrived from Karonga, and
together with Gommander Gullen, Dr. Poole and myself and the other officers
made for the stockade. Lieut. Alston and Major Trollope had joined the party
under Goape- Smith. Edwards and Bradshaw scrambled over the walls.
Gommander Gullen made a breach through the doorway with axes, and he
142 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
and I passed in, having been preceded by a number of Wankonde who drove
out the cattle. Night had now fallen ; we had lost one Sikh and three Atonga
killed, and Lieut, de Herries Smith severely wounded, besides one Sikh hospital
assistant and five Sikhs and five native soldiers were more or less severely
wounded.
Nothing had as yet been seen of Mlozi. Every effort had been made
to protect the women, no matter whether they were the Arabs' wives or
their slaves, and fortunately little or no loss of life took place amongst them.
They were soon safely housed in our main camp and here they gave us valuable
information as to the whereabouts of Mlozi. All search for this man in his
dwelling, however, proved fruitless, and we were returning to our camp at
night very disconsolate, when suddenly the rumour went up that he had been
THE NYASA-TANGANYIKA ROAD
MADE BY THE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA ADMINISTRATION)
captured and brought in by Sergeant- Major Bandawe of the Atonga. Bandawe
soon appeared leading Mlozi captive and related the remarkable feat of his capture
which was as follows : — After the Sikhs and officers had given up searching Mlozi's
house Bandawe had remained behind feeling certain that there was some secret
hiding place. After an interval during which he remained perfectly quiet he
fancied he heard voices speaking underground. In the corner of the main room
was a bedstead, and under the bedstead was an opening leading to an under-
ground chamber. Crawling under the bed Bandawe heard Mlozi asking, " Who
is there?" Mimicking the voice of a Swahili, he replied "It is I, master,*' and
descended to the underground chamber, where he found Mlozi being guarded
by a man with a spear. Bandawe had no weapon with him but threw himself
on the man and wrenched his spear from him which he then ran through his
body. Turning to Mlozi he threatened to kill him at once unless he followed
him without resistance. Mlozi who was stupid with his wound did so, and he
was safely brought into the camp by Bandawe.
Wc had found out from some of the runaway slaves that during the
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
H3
bombardment Mlozi had caused a good many of the hostages whom he had
detained from the natives to be slaughtered. I therefore summoned a council
of the Wankonde chiefs, and under my superintendence they tried Mlozi on
this count. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. When called upon
for his defence he merely said, " What is the good ? These people are resolved
that I shall die. My hour is come."
He was sentenced to be hanged, but it was originally intended that this
sentence should be carried out at Karonga. After the trial, however, a number
of Mlozi's men who were prisoners succeeded in overpowering the guard and
escaping, and the rumour went about that Kapanda-nsaru's forces were at hand
coming to the relief of Mlozi. As a strong flank attack on the part of the
Arabs might have cut off our line of retreat to Karonga, it was resolved that
Mlozi's execution should take place immediately, so that we might be released
IHE NYASA-TANGANYIKA ROAD
from the responsibility of guarding him. He was accordingly hanged on the
afternoon of the 4th December, in the presence of the Wankonde chiefs.
On the fourth day of the campaign we were back again at Karonga ; but
here we found to our great disgust that the S.s. Domira, contrary to my orders,
had been sent away by the agent of the African Lakes Company. The
departure of the officers and men was therefore delayed for some weeks.
Meantime I left for the south with Major Edwards to attend to other matters
that were pressing.
My three days at Mlozi's without sufficient shelter in the midst of pouring
rain, without proper food and having to place my mattress on the wet ground
and to drink the foul water of the early rains, had begun to make me very ill, and
a few days after leaving Karonga I was down with an attack of black-water
fever, in which I was most tenderly and carefully nursed by Major Edwards
who conveyed me on the German steamer to Fort Johnston and thence to
Liwonde, where I was joined by Dr. Poole, who eventually landed me safe and
sound and recovered at Zomba. Meanwhile Lieut. Coape-Smith and Mr. Gordon
144
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Cumming were destroying the remainder of the Arab stockades in the North
Nyasa districts, and Lieut. Alston and Mr. A. J. Swann were conducting a
brilliantly successful expedition in the interior of the Marimba district where
the notorious Saidi Mwazungu ^ had induced the powerful chief Mwasi Kazungu
to declare war against the British.
After a little fighting Saidi Mwazungu surrendered, but Mwasi declined to
make peace. His capital was stormed and taken. He himself escaped, but
soon afterwards committed suicide. He was of Achewa race, but was allied to
the Angoni, and had under him many Angoni headmen. Originally it was
intended that his attack on our positions in Jumbe's country should coincide
IN FORT HILL
with the Arab outbreak, but the movements were not quite simultaneous and
we were therefore able to deal with each in turn.
It had finally been resolved by me that the campaign should close with the
<lriving out of two Yao robber chiefs who had settled in the Central Angoniland
district — Tambala and Mpemba. Captain Stewart led an expedition into
Central Angoniland which was joined by Lieut. Alston. Tambala's stronghold
was captured and he himself fled. Mpemba hid in the bush but later on was
made prisoner by Commander Cullen and Mr. Gordon Cumming. The latter
succeeded Captain Stewart in the command of the Central Angoniland district,
and did a great deal to bring it into order.
Here as elsewhere in Nyasaland we were much assisted in our campaigns
by the real natives of the country who were almost always opposed to the
* This was the man who as before related ordered the massacre of Dr. Boyce and Mr. McEwan.
After our conquest of Makanjira's country, Saidi Mwazungu fled to the west of Nyasa, and settled with
Mwasi Kazungu where he was surrounded l^y a number of refugees from Makanjira's.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
H5
chiefs of alien origin who ruled over them and were in conflict with the
British. The bulk of the inhabitants in Central Angoniland are neither Angoni
nor Yao but Achewa and A-chipeta, branches of the A-nyanja stock.
At the north end of Lake Nyasa a new Administration station was built
by Mr. G. A. Taylor the collector, near Karonga, and a strong fort, called Fort
Hill,* was erected near the British South Africa Company's boundary by
Mr. Yule, for the purpose of guarding the Nyasa-Tanganyika road from the
raids of the Awemba.
The Awemba are a warlike race inhabiting the regions of the Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau which are watered by the River Chapibezi. They
y
THE STOCKADE, FORT HILL
originally came from the country of Itawa on the south-west coast of
Tanganyika. In Livingstone's day they do not appear to have been a
particularly warlike or aggressive race ; but soon after they came under Arab
influence and were Supplied by the Arabs with guns and gunpowder, and
thenceforth took to slave raiding with extraordinary zest. For several years
past they had harried not only the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau at the south
end of Tanganyika, but even the territory that has recently come under
German influence ; and of late they had been taken up by Mlozi as his special
allies, and were introduced by him into the North Xyasa district from which
their stragglers have been expelled since the conclusion of the Arab war. As
a people, however, they are by no means indisposed to come to terms with
us if they see that we are a strong power.
A strong fort was built in the spring and summer of this year by Lieut.
* After Sir Clement Hill, the head of the African Department at the Foreign OflTicc.
ID
146
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Alston on the site of Zarafi's town at Mangoche Mountain. Zarafi's former
capital was situated on. a neck or pass between high mountains and constituted
one of the most obvious and frequented roads into British Central Africa. The
boundaries of this Protectorate are so well guarded by lofty and inaccessible
ranges of mountains or by broad lakes and swamps that there are not many
routes by which it can be easily approached from the East Coast. The road
through Zarafi's country however is so easy that it will always require to
be specially guarded if the slave trade is to be stopped.
In the month of May, 1896, I had a serious relapse of bilious remittent
fever which ultimately developed haematuric symptoms. I therefore returned to
England on leave of absence, being relieved by Mr. Sharpe, who had been
in England during the second half of 1895. Since my return the progress
of the country has continued almost without check or interruption. Raids
on the part of the southern Angoni into the south-western portion of the
Protectorate occurred in the autumn of 1896, apparently as a reflex of the
agitation amongst their Matabele kindred in the south. These were sharply
punished by a force dispatched against the chiefs Chikusi and Odete under
Captains F. T. Stewart and W. H. Manning, and Lieut. Alston. The latter
had previously captured a slave-raiding chief named Katuri who lived near
Fort Mangoche, and who might be described as the last unconquered adherent
of the Zarafi clan. With these exceptions the tranquillity of the Protectorate
has not been further disturbed. The Imperial Government has placed the
British South Africa Ctjmpany's forces in the adjoining Sphere of Influence
under an Imperial Officer who is subordinated to the control of Lieut.-
Colonel Edwards, or whoever commands the armed forces in the British
Central Africa Protectorate. The efficiency
of the Administration was further recog-
nised by the Admiralty who proposed
handing over to us the gunboats on the
Zambezi and Lower Shire, in a way
similar to the transference of the lake
gunboats in 1895 ; but for various reasons
it has been deemed preferable to retain"^
these vessels under the White Ensign.
A brief summary of the results of
the British administration of this
Protectorate from 1891 to 1896
may be expressed as follows : —
At the commencement of our
administration in July, 1891,
there were, as far as I can
calculate, fifty-seven Europ-
eans resident in the British
Central Africa Protector-
ate, and in the adjoining
Sphere of the British South
Africa Company. Of these
one was French, two were
Austrian Poles, and the
remainder were British. In the summer of 1896 the European settlers in the
Protectorate alone exceeded 300 in number, and probably amounted to forty-
/
MR. ALFRED SHARPE IN 1896
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
^\7
five in the adjoining Sphere of the British South Africa Company.^ At the
time I made this calculation as to the number of the Europeans in the
Protectorate, in the summer of 1896, I ascertained that 30 were non-British
subjects, and consisted of 13 Germans, 8 Dutch, i Frenchman, 2 Italians,
5 Austro- Hungarians, and i Portuguese. Amongst the British subjects in
the late summer of 1896 there were 119 Scotch, 123 English and Welsh,
7 Irish, 2 Australians, 23 South Africans, i Anglo-Indian, and 3 Eurasians.
The number of Indians has risen from nil to 263, of whom 56 were Indian
traders. All these Indians, with the exception of 14 who were natives of
Portuguese India, were British- Indian subjects.
The total amount of trade done with British Central Africa in 1891, so far
as I could calculate from information supplied by the African Lakes Company,
THE ZOMBA-MLANJE ROAD
was ;f 39,965 in value. In April, 1896, the year's trade was computed at
;f 102,428. The export of coffee in i8qi amounted to at most a few pounds.
It is computed that in i«Qcr320 jpns were shipped home from British Central
Itlfica, and much 'of this cpffee attained the very high prices of 113.^. od. arid
.UJJ. Q^ a CWt.
In 1 89 1 there were four British steamers^ on the Zambezi and Lower Shire
(besides one steam launch owned by Mr. Sharrer), two of which were gunboats
belonging to Her Majesty's Navy. There are now seventeen British steamers
on the Zambezi and the Shire, and forty-six cargo boats mostly built of steel,
besides innumerable small wooden boats and large cargo canoes. On Lake
Nyasa and the Upper Shire the number of steamers has increased from three in
1 89 1 to six in i8g6, in addition to which there are several large sailing boats
* At the date of the publication of this book the number of Europeans in the Protectorate amounts
to 315.
* In the twelve months from the 1st of January, 1895, to the 31st December, 1895, 109 steamers, 360
targes, 169 boats, and 178 large canoes entered and discharged at the British port at Chiromo on the
Lower Shire.
148
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
and cargo barges. The captured daus it may be noted have been repaired by
us and are now plying in the service of the Government
There was of course no postal service in 1891, and letters were generally sent
through the African Lakes Company to the Vice-Consul at Quelimane together
with money for postage stamps, and this official stamped the letters with
Portuguese stamps, and sent them home from the Portuguese Post Office.
We commenced to establish a postal service in July, 1891. There are now
eighteen Post Offices in the Protectorate, and five in the British South
Africa Company's sphere, while our postal service extends from Chinde at
the mouth of the Zambezi to Tanganyika, Mweru, and the Congo Free State.
A FOOTBRIDGE ACROSS THE MLUNGUSI (ZOMBA)
In the month of November, 1895, which was taken as an average month,
the total number of articles carried by our postal service in, the Protectorate,
including letters, postcards, book packets, newspapers, and parcels, inwards and
outwards, was 29,802 as compared with 25,592 in November, 1894, and 19,383
in November, 1893. Besides this we carry the mails of the German Government
from Lake Nyasa to Chinde.' Our parcel-post service was started in 1893
and has been extended to the South African Colonies and England and
to Zanzibar and Aden and India. A money order system has just been
established.
Want of funds in 1894 compelled us to adopt a rather cheap and inferior
' In return for which the (icrman sul)sitlized steamers carry our correspondence between Chinde
and Zanzibar
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 149
issue of stamps, but by a grant from the Treasury we have now been able
to have a thoroughly satisfactory issue engraved by Messrs. De La Rue.
The design of the stamps is that of the Coat of Arms of the Protectorate.
Their values are id., 2d., ^d, 6d,, is., 2s. 6d., y., ^s.,£i, ;^io. They are used
alike in the collection of revenue as in the payment of postal charges.
At Chinde on the British Concession there is a Post Office of Exchange,
at which mails are landed from or transferred to the ocean-going steamers.
Letters or other material arriving from the outer world at Chinde are sorted
at this Post Office of Exchange into bags for the various postal districts in
British Central Africa, and into bags for the German territories and for the
Congo Free State, and are then shipped up river by the various steamers plying
between Chinde and Chiromo. At Chiromo the bags are sent overland to the
different Post Offices of distribution between the Lower Shire and Lake Nyasa,
being carried by native postmen who wear a special uniform of scarlet and
white. These men travel at the rate of 25 miles a day, and are wonderfully
faithful and careful in the delivery of their precious charges. Cases have been
known where postal carriers have been drowned in the crossing of flooded
rivers by their obstinacy in not parting from their mail bags, and where they
have fought bravely and successfully against odds in an attack by highway
robbers. The negro of Central Africa has a genuine respect for the written
word. Of course the time will come when attendant on the growth of civiliza-
tion, native postmen will probably commit robberies of registered letters, as is
occasionally done by their European colleagues; but at the present time our
mails are perfectly safe in their hands.
In 1891 there was about one mile of road — that between the Mission station
at Blantyre and the African Lakes Compan/s store — over which a vehicle could
be driven. By the end of 1896 we had constructed some 390^ miles of roads
suited for wheeled traffic, while another 80 miles of broad paths have been
cleared through the bush for the passage of porters and " machillas." *
Attempts in great part successful have been made to improve the naviga-
bility of. the Shire by removing the snags from the approaches to Chiromo, and
the sharp stones from the Nsapa Rapids on the Upper Shire ; and by deepening
the bar at the entrance to Lake Nyasa. Last, and not least, the Slave trade,
and it may almost be added the status of Slavery, have been brought absolutely
to an end. Between 1891 and 1894, 861 slaves were released by various
officials of the Protectorate, and between 1894 and 1896, 1700. Native labour
is now organised in such a way as to protect the interests of both the white
man and the negro.
1600 acres of land were under cultivation at the hands of Europeans in
1 89 1, as against 5700 acres in 1896.
In 1 89 1 no coin was in circulation in the country, except to a very limited
extent amongst Europeans. Transactions with natives were carried on by
means of the barter of trade goods. In the three following years the use of
English coinage was introduced by the Administration. We imported several
thousand pounds' worth of gold, silver and copper coins from the Royal Mint,
and put them in circulation amongst the natives who immediately took to the
* ue., Katunga to Blantyre, Blantyre to Zomba, Zomba to Fort Liwonde (via Domasi), Zomba to Fort
Lister, and thence round Mlanje to Fort Anderson, Fort Anderson to Chiromo, Chiromo to Chiradzulu
and Ntonda, Blantyre to Cholo, Karonga to the Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau, and short roads in the
Blantyre, Zomba, South Nyasa, Central Angoniland and Marimba districts.
' A *' machilla" it must be remembered is a hammock or wicker-work couch slung on a pole.
159
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
new system. In these efforts we were effectively seconded by the African
Lakes Company which estabhshed a Banking Company, with its main office
at Blantyre and branches at Chinde and Fort Johnston. Native wages are now
paid in cash, and the Administration receives most of the native taxes in cash,
though produce is still accepted in payment of taxes in the outlying districts.
Finally, it may be stated that the local revenue raised from Customs Duties,
Stamp Duties, and Native Taxes, which in the year ended March 31st, 1892,
was only ;£^I700 in value, was in the year ended March 31st, 1896, over
^■2 2,000.
THE GARDENS OF THE RESIDENCY, ZOMBA
Attempts, in some degree successful, have been made to check the indis-
criminate slaughter of the elephant, rhinoceros, and gnu,^ and this protection
has now been accorded to the zebra, wild swine, buffalo, and most of the rare
or more beautiful African antelopes. Two game reserves for the breeding
of these animals unmolested by any attacks from man have been formed, and
regulations for the protection of wild game were drawn up by the Foreign
Office early in the present year (these will be found in an Appendix to
Chapter IX.).
Some mention should be made of the excellent work done by Mr. Alexander
Whyte, F.Z.S., the head of our scientific department. He discovered on Mount
Mlanje that most interesting conifer the Widdringtonia Whytei — discovered
* The same restrictions also apply to the giraffe, but the giraffe is of ver)' doubtful existence in British
Central Africa.
FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE
151
it just in time to save it from extinction at the hands of the natives who
would every year ignite bush-fires on the upper parts of Mlanje, which were
rapidly destroying this valuable tree. Successful efforts have now been made
to replant other districts with the Widdringtonia^ the seed of which has also
been introduced into England, where it is now cultivated at Kew Gardens
and at the establishments of one or two leading horticulturists. Mr. Whyte,
with the co-operation of many officials in the B.C.A. Administration has made
remarkable zoological and botanical collections which have enriched our national
and provincial museums. (Some idea of the work we have done in this respect
may be obtained by glancing at the Appendices to Chapters VIII. and IX.)
Mr. Whyte laid the foundations of a Botanical Garden at Zomba, and has
distributed amongst the planters seeds and plants which he has introduced
on behalf of the Administration, or obtained from Kew. The authorities
at Kew Gardens have from time to time sent out Wardian cases containing
varieties and species of coffee, of bananas, of vanilla, and of a great many
other useful and beautiful trees, shrubs, and^ plants suited to cultivation in a
tropical country.
Coal has been discovered by our officials in various districts, and specimens
have been sent home for analysis.
MR. WHYTE IN THE GARDENS AT ZOMBA
152 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
APPENDIX I
THE PRESENT METHOD OF ADMINISTERING BRITISH
CENTRAL AFRICA
CHAPTER IV. may be usefully supplemented by a brief statement of the present
methods of administration.
There are the following Civilian officials : —
H.M. Commissioner and Consul-General :
H.M. Deputy Commissioner and Consul :
A Vice-Consul and Agent of the British Central Africa Administration at Chinde :
An Assistant Agent and Head Postmaster at the same place :
A Vice-Consul at Blantyre, and another at Fort Johnston :
A Secretary to the Administration ; an Assistant Secretary and 2 clerks :
A Judicial Officer at Blantyre, who is at the head of the Judicial Establishment :
A Chief Accountant; 3 other Accountants; a Store-keeper and Commissariat
Officer ; an Assistant ditto and a native assistant ditto ; a local Auditor :
A Postmaster General ; a head of the Scientific Department (Mr. Alexander
Whyte) ; an Assistant and Forester in the same department :
A Principal Medical Officer, and 2 other medical officers :
A First Surveyor (European); 3 other Surveyors (Indian, lent by the Indian Govern-
ment) ; a Superintendent of Road-making, and two Assistant Superintendents :
A Superintendent of Public Works, with a European assistant and 6 Indian artisans :
1 2 Collectors, 8 of whom hold Judicial Warrants :
15 Assistant Collectors.
Most of the Collectors and Assistant Collectors hold in addition the office of Post-
master. There are further, besides the Postmaster-General at Blantyre, and the Head
Postmaster at Chinde, 2 special Postmasters at Blantyre and at Zomba.
The Armed Forces consist of the following officers and men : —
A Commandant (Lieut. -Colonel C A. Edwards) :
Second-in-Command and Staff Officer ; Third Officer and Quarter-Master :
Accountant, Clerk, Sergeant- Major of Artillery, and Transport Officer, and 2 Indian
clerks.
(The foregoing are specially attached to the Indian Contingent, though their control
extends to the rest of the armed forces.)
In the Contingent of Native troops there are : —
6 British Officers; 2 native Sergeant- Majors ; and a number of Police Corporals and
Interpreters.
The troops consist of
180 Sikhs, with 20 followers and 2 Indian hospital assistants, and about 1,000
native soldiers, armed porters and policemen.
APPENDIX
153
The Naval Service consists of a
Commandant (Commander Percy Cullen, R.N.R.) and
3 other Naval Officers, all of whom are chosen from the Royal Naval Reserve ; and
4 Warrant Officers, who are pensioners in the Royal Navy ;
A Chief Engineer, and 4 other engineers ;
4 Indian Artificers ;
Other European carpenters, clerks, store-keepers, &c. ; and about
80 " Sidi Boys," or native seamen.
BARRACKS AT FORT JOHNSTON
There are at present in the service of the Protectorate on the Upper Shire and on
Lake Nyasa, 3 gunboats, i barge, 5 steel boats, and 2 daus (Arab sailing vessels). The
war vessels are well armed with suitable guns. A new gunboat of considerable size is
being built for service on Lake Nyasa, and should be launched at the beginning of 1898.
The most important " item " in the service of the Protectorate is probably the
" Collector." This official superintends the collection of Customs Duties, the assessment
and levying of native taxes ; he directs the Civil police in his district ; administers justice
to Europeans and between Europeans and natives where he holds a Warrant from the
Secretary of State to act as a judicial officer ; superintends the administration of native
justice ; and acts generally as political officer and Tribune of the people. In all Civil
matters he is supreme in his District, and only subordinate to the Commissioner. In
many cases he is also responsible for the conduct of the postal service. If he possesses
a great deal of power he is at the same time almost invariably an overworked individual,
with many cares and responsibilities on his shoulders.
Justice is administered to British subjects and other Europeans and foreigners under
154
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the Africa Orders in Council of 1891 and 1893 ; and to the natives by such native chiefs
-as are authorised to hold Courts of Justice ; or more ordinarily by the judicial officers in
the district, acting in the name and by the authority of the native chiefs. Capital
punishment on Europeans can only be carried out after the Minutes of the Trial have
been submitted to a Supreme Court ^ which revises the sentence, and if it is confirmed
sanctions the execution. Capital sentences on natives of the Protectorate, imposed by
the native Cojirt, cannot be carried out until they have received the sanction of the
Commissioner of Zomba, to whom Minutes of the case are submitted 2 by a provision
under the Africa Orders in Council. Additional laws, governing the Protectorate and
the Sphere of Influence, can be made by the issue of " Queen's Regulations," which,
after receiving the assent of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, are promulgated
by the Commissioner for British Central Africa. Special legislation of this kind is chiefly
directed to the establishment of Customs Duties and Taxation, to the protection of Big
Game, to the regulation of native labour and of navigation on the rivers and lakes.
These Regulations and other announcements of a Governmental kind are published
in the British Central Africa Gazette^ which is the official organ of the Administration
and appears fortnightly, issued by the Government Press at Zomba.^
Government land is sold by public auction, and its upset price at present varies from
2s. 6d. to 51. od. an acre.
There is a central Hospital at Zomba for the treatment of the European servants of
the Administration, and a native hospital.
For Administrative purposes the Protectorate is divided into the following districts: —
Lower Shire (Capital, Port Herald).
Ruo (Capital, Chiromo).
Mlanje (Capital, Fort Anderson).
Zomba (Capital, Zomba).
Blantyre (Capital, Blantyre).
West Shire (Capital, Chikwawa).
Upper Shire (Capital, Liwonde).
South Nyasa (Capital, Fort Johnston).
Central Angoniland (Capital,^ Tambala).
Marimba (Capital, Kotakota).
VV^est Nyasa (Capital, Nkata).
North Nyasa (Capital, Karonga).
^ Which at present is the High Court of Cape Colony.
'^ There have only been four executions for murder amongst the natives since 1891. One was
the execution of a native of Kotakota, who killed a Makua soldier ; the second, the execution of Mlozi :
the third, the execution of Saidi Mwazungu, who killed Dr. Boyce and Mr. McEwan ; and the fourth the
execution of the Angoni Chief, Chikusi.
^ Where there are I European superintendent and 6 native printers.
^ It is probable that the capital will l)e removed to Chiwere.
THE RKSIDENCY, ZOMBA
J G. B*J*JiDii3in(rw
CHAPTER V.
THE SLAVE TRADE
IN regard to the slave trade, a few words of explanation and description may
be of interest. Slavery has probably existed among mankind from time
immemorial, and no doubt one race of negroes enslaved another ages before
the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians introduced the slave trade, by which is
meant the deliberate expatriation of negroes to countries beyond the sea, or to
parts of Africa not inhabited by the negro race. But the horrors of the slave
trade are attributable, firstly to Europeans, and secondly to Arabs.
The English, Spanish, Portuguese and French had commenced trafficking in
negro slaves from the West Coast of Africa when* that coast became opened up
to geographical knowledge in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the
sixteenth century organised attempts were made to replace the disappearing
aborigines of the West Indies by negro slaves ; then came the introduction of
negroes into the southern States of North America. At first the trade was
confined to the West Coast but the Portuguese commenced to export slaves
from East Africa in the seventeenth century, and thenceforward a mighty slave
trade sprang up in the valley of the Zambezi which is not yet extinct, although
several measures for its abolition have been taken by the Portuguese Govern-
ment during the present century.
Maskat Arabs who warred with the Portuguese in East Africa and gradually
supplanted them in all the settlements between Aden and the Ruvuma River,
organised a brisk traffic to supply the markets of the East with black concubines,
black eunuchs, and strong-armed willing workers.
Slaves thus became indispensable to Arabia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and
I'ersia, and Abyssinian slaves were even introduced in numbers to the West
Coast of India where they were turned into fighting men or into regular castes
of seamen.^
The Moors of Northern Africa, however, had almost shown the way in the
matter of the slave trade to the nations of Western Europe by developing an
active intercourse with the regions of the Nigerian Sudan, so that all Northern
Africa was abundantly supplied with a caste of negro workers while negro
blood mingled freely in many of the Arab and Berber tribes.
The worst horrors of the slave trade were probably the miseries endured by
the closely-packed negroes on slave ships, where from want of ventilation and of
such treatment as would nowadays be accorded as a duty to cargoes of beasts,
they endured untold miseries and developed strange maladies. Moreover, to
^ Curiously enough some of these slaves revolted and formed communities of their own in Western
India, now recognised by the Imperial Government as small tributary States under negroid rulers of
Abyssinian descent.
155
156
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
supply the slave market in America incessant civil war was raging amongst the
coast tribes of West Africa. But the Arabs of East-Central Africa have run us
hard in the matter of wickedness. I do not need to recapitulate the horrors of
slave raids and the miseries of slave caravans : they are graphically described
by Livingstone.^
The Arabs of Maskat from the Zanzibar coast and the half-breed Portuguese
from the Zambezi joined together to devastate what is now called British Central
Africa.
The slaves from the Senga and Bisa countries in the Luangwa valley and
from much of Southern Nyasaland found their way to Tete on the Zambezi, and
thence to Quelimahe and Mozambique, where
they were picked up by American ships as
late as the beginning of the " sixties." Some
of these ships eluded the British gunboats ;
others were captured and taken to Sierra
Leone. Here, strange to say, many inhabitants
of Nyasaland and of the countries as far west
as the Lualaba, were landed in the " forties "
and "fifties" of this century, and were ex-
amined as to their languages by Mr. Koelle,
a German missionary of great learning, who,
in his Polyglotta Africana, produced one of
the finest books ever written on the subject
of African languages. Long before the
existence of Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika
were known to Europe, Mr. Koelle, of Sierra
Leone, was writing down the vocabularies
and languages spoken on the shores of those
lakes, gathered from slaves that had come
from Mozambique and Quelimane.
In between Mozambique and Quelimane
the Arabs still retain to this day a hold on
certain little-known ports, such as Angoche
and Moma. From these points slaves from Eastern Nyasaland were shipped
to Madagascar, which until its recent conquest by the French was another
profitable market for slaves. In addition, the Matabele Zulus, who had surged
back into South-Central Africa from Zululand at the beginning of this century
raided across the Zambezi for slaves, and slave-raiding was also carried on by
the Basuto who., under the name of the Makololo, conquered the Barutse
kingdom. From the middle of the i8th to near the end of the 19th century
British Central Africa has been devastated by the slave trade. Whole tribes
have been cut up and scattered ; vast districts depopulated ; arts and crafts
and useful customs have been forgotten in the flight before the slave -raiders.
The whole country was kept in a state of incessant turmoil by the attempt
to supply the slave markets of the Zambezi, of Madagascar, of the United
States, of Zanzibar, Arabia, Persia, and Turkey.
A great blow was dealt to this trade by the conclusion of the American
Civil War and the abolition of slavery. This and the Emancipation of Slaves
first in the West Indies and subsequently in Brazil, brought the West African
^ I have attempted also to give descriptions hase<l on a good deal of personal observation as well as
on much reading in my book. The History of a Slave.
A SVVAHILI SLAVE-TRADER
THE SLAVE TRADE
157
slave trade to a close and largely diminished the source of profit in the
South -East African slave trade; for American ships came no longer to the
Mozambique coast to take away cargoes of slaves and to evade the British
cruisers. Then the Portuguese awoke to a sense of duty and a series of edicts
made slavery very difficult and the slave trade practically impossible in all the
settled portions of Portuguese East Africa. But the Eastern market always
ARAB AND SWAHILI SLAVE-TRADERS, CAI'TURKD BY THE B.C.A. FORCES
remained open and the Arabs carried their slaving enterprise farther and
farther into the heart of British Central Africa. They had enlisted on their
side powerful tribes like the Wa-yao, the VVa-nyamwezi, the Awemba, and the
Angoni Zulus. Dr. Livingstone, however, appeared on the scene and his appeals
to the British public gradually drew our attention to the slave trade in Eastern
Central Africa until, as the direct result of Livingstone's work, slavery and the
slave trade are now at an end within the British Central Africa Protectorate,
and are fast disappearing in the regions beyond under the South Africa
158
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Company ; and the abolition of slavery at Zanzibar will shortly be decreed as
a final triumph to Livingstone's appeal.
The attitude of our Administration in British Central Africa, towards the
status of slavery has been this : we have never recognised
it, but where slavery existed without its being forced on
our notice through an attempt to carry on the slave trade,
or through unkindness to the slaves, we have not actually
interfered to abolish the status. But if ever a slave has
run away from a district not administered by us to a more
settled portion of the Protectorate, we have always refused
to surrender him. If the slave was a female and it could
be shown that she was a wife or concubine of the man who
owned her or that he had inflicted no unkindness she was
usually given back upon a promise of immunity from
punishment. When a district from various causes has
come under our our immediate administration we have
always informed the slaves that they were not slaves and
that they were free to go and do what they pleased as long
as they did not break the law. But it has rarely happened
that the slaves of a chief who were well treated have chosen
to quit their masters ; therefore, being free to do as they
liked, if they chose to remain and work as slaves nobody
interfered to prevent their doing so. The slave trade — still
more slave-raiding — has always been punished, and it may
be safely stated that such a thing does not now exist in the
Protectorate, though it is still carried on in such districts as
are not wholly under the control of the British South
■^ ^H ^Hl Africa Company ; while Mpezeni alone among the uncon-
' ■ ^^ ^™i quered Angoni chiefs raids the countries round his settle-
ments and apparently adds his slaves to the population of
his kingdom, or sells them to the Arabs on the Luangwa.
The hardships of the slave trade were these : — Homes
were broken up, a large number of men, women and little
children were collected together and dispatched on a many-
hundred-mile journey overland to the coast, on which they
often had to carry heavy burdens Their slave-sticks ^ were
(MNYAMWEzi) "^ '^^^^ Weight, attd they were ill-fed and provided with no
siave-raider employed by Arabs clothing to shicld them from the cold or wet in mountainous
regions. If they lagged by the way or lay down, worn
out with exhaustion, their throats were cut or they were shot. Otten before
reaching the coast the Arabs would stop at some settlement and roughly
castrate a number of the young boys so that they might be sold as eunuchs.
Some died straightway from the operation, others lingered a little longer and
^ The slave-stick in most of the languages of East-Central Africa is called gori, goli, or li-goli. It
consists usually of a young tree lopped off near the ground and again cut where it divides into two
branches. The ends of these two branches are left sufficiently long to enclose the neck of the slave.
Their ends are then united by an iron pin which is driven through a hole drilled in the wood and
hammered over on either side.
The thick end of the gori-stick is usually fastened to a tree at night time when the caravan is resting,
though sometimes it is merely left on the ground as the weight of the stick would make escape nearly
impossible, especially as stubborn slaves have their hands tied behind the back. When the slaves are
engaged in any work the end of the gori-stick is sufficiently supported to enable them to bear its weight
and yet perform the task. allotted to them. Except in the case of children, on whom no stick b placed,
•RUGA-RUGA
THE SLAVE TRADE 159.
eventually perished from hernia induced by this operation. Those who survived
usually had an extremely comfortable and prosperous after-life in the harem
of some Turk, Arab or Persian. The mortality amongst the children was
terrible: the Arab slave-drivers do not appear to have been actuated by motives
of commercial expediency in endeavouring to Ifind as many live and healthy
slaves on the coast as possible. They seem on the contrary to have been
inspired by something more like devilish cruelty at times in the reckless way
in which they would expose their slaves to suffering and exhaustion, and then
barbarously kill them.^
as they are sure to follow their mothers or friends, or of comely young women who are the temporary
concubines of the slave-drivers, and who, with the facile nature of the negro, rapidly become attached
to their brutal husbands — all slaves are usually loaded with this terrible weight. Nevertheless escape
does sometimes take place. Most slaves must of necessity have their hands free when on the march,
especially if they are to support the weight of the gori-stick. They then often manage to secrete a knife
or razor, or some sharp substance ^nth which during the night they will attempt to saw through one
of the branches of the stick round the neck. They are then able to twist the iron pin round and release
their necks from the burden. To escape in a strange country is impossible, and the attempt is invariably
followed by a return to slavery in some shape or form. As a rule when the journey to the coast is half
done the slaves are sufficiently to be depended upon for docility to be able to travel without the slave-
stick.
* Much of my information about slavery was derived from an interesting man, several years in my
service, who was originally a native of the east coast of Lake Nyasa, and had been sent as a slave to the
coast with an Arab caravan when he was about twelve years old. The slaves whom he accompanied
were captured by a British cruiser. This boy was taken to 21anzibar and set free, was educated at the
Universities Mission, and became the servant of a succession of Admirals on the East Coast Station,
ending up with Admiral Hewett ; after whose death he passed into my service, and was, until his recent
death, the principal servant at the Consulate at Mo9ambique.
^
CHAPTER VI.
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
AS mentioned in a preceding chapter, there were 345 Europeans at the
end of the year 1 896 settled in the eastern part of British Central Africa,
of whom about thirty were non-British subjects. These Europeans are
divisible into four classes — officials, missionaries, planters and traders.
The missionaries and their work will be dealt with in Chapter VII. The
officials have been referred to in the Appendix to a preceding chapter ; there
remain therefore the planters and traders to be now considered.
The planters come from very much the same class which furnishes the coffee
planters of Ceylon, India, Fiji, and Tropical America. They are most of them
decent young fellows of good physique and good education, who, possessed
of a small capital, desire to embark on a life which shall combine a profitable
investment for their money, with no great need for elaborate technical education,
and an open-air life in a wild country with plenty of good sport, and few or
none of the restraints of civilisation. One of our planters can look back on
something like twenty-two years' experience of British Central Africa, another
on eighteen years' experience, a third ten, a fourth nine; but most of the
men did not arrive in the country before 1 890 or 189 1. The planters now
/^probably number nearly 100. The chie£_jJiin^ ^QWO is_cpjfee; but tea
j has been started on two estates (on one of which it has been growing for
} about six years), and on others cinchona and ceara rubber, cotton and
1 tobacco are cultivated. Some planters go in a great deal for cattle keeping
[and breeding.^
^ ^ The coffee plant was originally introduced into British Central Africa by
Mr. Jonathan Duncan, a horticulturist in th(? nervire of the Thnrrh cfi ^Sr^tland
iMIssIbn, but the idea owes its inception to the late Mr. John Buchanan, C.M.G.,
;who was at the time also in the service of the Church of Scotland Mission,^
^ During the jiast two or three years the use of cattle by the European settlers in the Protectorate
has greatly increased. When I first came to British Central Africa in 1889 no one except at two or three
mission stations and at the African Lakes Company's establishments at Mandala and at Karonga kept any
cattle. A few native chiefs had herds of 20 or 30 beasts hidden away in the mountains, afraid to avow
their existence in case they should be raided by the Angoni or the Vao. At the north end of the lake
the Wankonde had enormous herds, as was the case with the Angoni in the west of the Protectorate, but
no one came forward to trade in cattle and distribute oxen among the Europeans in the Shire Highlands.
All this is now changed. Many Europeans have been up into the Angoni country, and certain Adminis-
tration officials have interested themselves in the introduction of cattle into the Shire province. The
price of milch cows now stands at a little more than two or three pounds a head, while oxen may fetch as
little as 15/. each. The cbicf inducement in keeping cattle is to use the manure for the coffee plantations,
but of course the supply of milk and buttet is a valuable adjunct to health.
* Which he joined as a lay mcnil>er sijecially in charge of horticultural work in 1876.
160
^ THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS i6i
and who on his arrival at Blantyre had arranged with the curator of the
Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh for the sending out of coffee plants.
Three small coffee plants of the Mocha variety (Coffcea Arabica) which
were leading a sickly existence at Edinburgh were entrusted to Mr. Duncan to
transport to Blantyre. Two of these plants died on the voyage, the third
survived and was planted in the Blantyre Mission gardens, where until quite
recently it was still living. Two years after it was thus replanted it bore a
crop of about looo beans which were all planted, and from which 400 seedlings
were eventually reared. In 1883, 14 J cwts. of coffee was gathered from these
young trees. Mr. Henry Henderson of the Blantyre Mission brought out a
small supply of Liberian coffee seed in 1887 ; but this variety has never met
with much success in British Central Africa, as it will not grow well on the
hills, though it answers well in the plains. Moreover, it does not fetch nearly
such good prices as the small Mocha bean. Later on varieties of Jamaica
coffee were introduced by the Moir Brothers whilst managers of the African
THE CONSULATE, BLANTYRE
Lakes Company at Mandala. The " blue mountain " variety of Jamaica has
succeeded very well in the Shire Highlands, and to a less extent the " orange "
coffee in the same locality has prospered. Still the bulk of the coffee trees
now existing in this Protectorate owe their origin to the one surviving coffee
plant introduced from the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. It may therefore
be said without much exaggeration that it is Scotch coffee which is the staple
growth of British Central Africa.
Owing to the troubles which broke out in the Church of Scotland
Mission (briefly referred to in a previous chapter), much of the Society's^
work in connection with planting was suspended, though not before it had I
introduced coffee into the Zomba district through Mr. Buchanan ; but when !
Mr. Buchanan left the Mission in 1880 he determined to establish himself!
independently as a coffee planter. For years he and his brothers (who i
eventually joined him) struggled on with a very limited capital, having
almost insuperable difficulties to contend with in the shape of recalcitrant chiefs,
ill-health, and invasions of the Angoni, which drove away all their native labour.
They remained however without any rivals in the field until Mr. Eugene
Sharrer, a British subject of German origin, arrived at Blantyre in 1889, bought
land and started coffee planting. The Lakes Company also commenced
II
■^
162
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
planting about the same time, but the shipments of the Buchanan Brothers had
already established the fact that coffee of the very best quality could be grown
in British Central Africa. Moreover, the labour difficulty was being gradually
solved. When the natives around the infant settlements of Blantyre and
Zomba were convinced that the white men would pay fairly for their labour,
they began to come in increasing numbers to work in the plantations, and
strangest of all, the warlike Angoni came down with their slaves, not to raid
and ravage as before, but to obtain
employment for three or four months
in the year in the coffee plantations.
The total amount of coffee ex-
ported from this Protectorate in 1896
was 320 tons. This coffee was sold
in London at prices ranging between
99.?. and 115.?. per cwt, much of it
fetching prices over 100 shillings.
The lowest price ever fetched by
British Central Africa coffee was 86j".
per cwt.
The coffee undoubtedly varies
according to the amount of rainfall,
the fertility of the soil, and the manner
in which it is plucked, pulped, dried
and packed. Manure and shade ^ seem
to be absolutely necessary to complete
success. Artificial manures are now
being imported, and as already stated
cattle are kept in increasing quantities
so that their dung may be used for
the coffee plantations, and guano
has recently been discovered on the
islands of Lake Nyasa, which will
prove very useful. It is also necessary
that the plantations shall be scru-
pulously weeded. When the soil is
fertile, and all these conditions of manure, shade and weeding have been fulfilled,
a yield of as much as 17 cwt. per acre has been taken. On the other hand, in
much neglected gardens no more than 50 or 60 lbs. per acre has been realised.
The average yield in the plantations is 3^ cwt. per acre, though it is the opinion
of experts that this yield would be greatly increased if more care was shown
in the cultivation of the coffee.
In some years of poor rainfall or where the first rains have fallen early,
and have brought coffee prematurely into blossom leaving the newly-formed
seed to suffer from the subsequent drought, the berry grows diseased or the
husk is found to be empty with no kernels at all inside. Some people are of
opinion that this empty husk or diseased berry is caused by the presence
of a small beetle. Others assert that it is the result of a plague of green
* To attain this end, I believe, in new plantations for every two coffee shrubs inserted in the ground
one African fig tree is planted. Thtse splendid wild fig trees grow to a great height and give al)solute
shade. They also serve to protect the coffee trees from being wind blown or seared by the hot air coming
off the plains in the dry season.
A COFFEE TREE IN BEARING
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
163
bugs which suck the sap of the cofifee tree. All are agreed, however, that
the only preventative of the defective berry \^ plenty of shade and manure.
A system of "topping"^ has now been almost universally adopted, though
perhaps not to the same extent to which it is carried on in Ceylon and India,
for it is difficult to train immediately a sufficient staff of natives who will handle
and prune the coffee in a proper manner ; and careless topping does more harm
than good. The effect of the soil of this Protectorate on the coffee shrub
is apparently to bring it into bearing at three years of age or under, and to
cause it in its second crop to exhaust its vitality, if it be not previously pruned.
Left to itself the coffee shrub in this main or second crop would give an
enormous yield from the primary shoots and as a result of this exhaustion
no secondary branches would be developed from which the next year's crop
would come; consequently instead of bearing year after year for something
like fourteen years the coffee shrubs would be useless when four or five years
old. The coffee tree generally blossoms during the dry season in the months
of September and October, especially if a few showers of rain fall, as they
often do at this time of the year. The berries are usually ripe and ready for
picking at the end of June.
In my report to the Foreign Office on the trade of British Central Africa
during 1895 and 1896 I have estimated that a planter requires a capital of
about ;^iooo for the upkeep and bringing into bearing of 100 acres of coffee.
This sum should purchase an estate of say 500 acres and provide for the cost of
clearing it, obtaining coffee seedlings and planting them, and building a fairly
comfortable house, and of meeting the expense of the planter's living on a
moderate scale during the three years. It would not, however, provide for the
erection of. a substantial brick house,
nor of the pulping vats, and special
machinery for pulping. With this he
would have gradually to supply himself
out of the profits his plantation would
make after the first three years. Per-
haps it may enable my readers to
obtain a clear idea of the average
experience of a young coffee planter ;
what difficulties he has to face ; what
are the chances of success — what in
fact any reader of my book who
intends to become a coffee planter
in British Central Africa would have
to undergo — if I give here extracts
from the imaginary letters of a typical
planter, so far as my imagination will
enable me to enter into the mind of A, B, C, or D, and reveal their thoughts
and the impressions which are made on them by what they see and feel.
"Balbrochan, Ayrshire, Scotland.
" Dear Fred, — As I have failed in my last chance for the army, the governor has
decided that I am to go coffee planting somewhere in Central Africa. He has heard all
about it from old Major McClear, who it appears has gone out there with his son (he is
a widower you know) and is going to supplement his pension by making money out of
* "Topping'* means cutting about four inches off the top of the tree, so as to throw it back and
cause the secondary branches to develop and come into bearing.
a planter s temporary house
164
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
coffee. Vou see, as I have failed finally to pass my exams for the army, I must not be
too particular, as there are younger brothers and sisters to be educated and put out
in the world, and my father is not over well off; besides, I hear there is capital sport,
and the climate is not so bad though one gets a touch of fever every now and then.
The governor can only afford ;^iooo to start me, and I am going to do my best
not to cost him another penny before I am self-supporting. ... I think the country
is called the British Central Africa Protectorate; it is close to Lake Nyasa, and is
about 300 or 400 miles inland from the east coast. I am getting my equipment ready,
and shall leave on the i st of May by the Edinburgh Castle for Durban, where I change
into the " Rennie " boat Induna, and so travel up the east coast to a place called Chinde
which is at the mouth of the Zambezi. Here I change into the river steamer, and
travel up the Zambezi and the Shire, and so on to Blantyre where I shall stay with
the McClears and look about me. ... As to equipment,^ I am not taking very much
as I am told that most things can be got fairly good and cheap out there, and it saves
one the bother of a lot of luggage, and the risk of loading yourself with things that you
don't want. I shall simply take along with me all my old clothes and a dress-suit in case
there is any * society.* Of course I am taking guns— a doubled-barrelled 12-bore shot
gun, and an express rifle. I have been strongly advised not to take a helmet, as
it is said to be a ridiculous kind of headgear for Central Africa, where one requires
something like a light Terai hat, and where it appears you should always carry a white
cotton umbrella when the sun shines. The helmet is cumbersome and ugly and does
not shield the body from the sun. It seems from what I can gather that a chap gets far
sicker from the effect of the sun on his body than on his head, and that the best way
to avoid, sun fever and sunstroke Is to carry an umbrella wherever one goes. I shall
take a good saddle with me and riding gear, as most of the people in the Shire
Highlands (the name of the coffee district) ride about on ponies. I think as I pass
through Durban I shall invest in a Basuto pony (they are said to be the best for the
purpose) and take him along with me up to Blantyre. I hear they are very cheap
at Durban, about £,% will buy a good one, and it only comes altogether to about ^25 or
^26 to convey the little beast up river to a place called Katunga, and there you get on
his back and ride up to Blantyre. I shall also take out my bicycle as some of the roads
are fit for cycling. Nearly everything else can be got on the spot, but my mother
insists on giving me a small medicine chest, so that I can dose myself with quinine and
other things if there is no doctor handy. I shall also take out a small photographic
camera and plenty of books.
" And now good-bye for a bit in case I don't see you again, but as soon as I get out
there I will write and let you know what it is like."
**Chiromo, British Central Africa, /i/w^ 12M.
"Dear Fred, — I am now in British Central Africa, and before I get any further into
the country as I have a day or two to spare here I will give you an account of what my
journey was like.
"I managed to get my pony all right in Durban through Messrs. and ,
who seem to be universal providers in that city. I had to give ;^9 for him but he is an
extra good little beast. We changed into the InduTui at this place. She was very
crowded and therefore not very comfortable, but the journey to (Chinde only occupied
^y^ days as we ran through direct.
" Chinde, you know, is one of the mouths of the Zambezi, and the only one which has
a bar that can be crossed without risk by a well-navigated steamer. The Induna crossed
the bar all right and landed us on the British Concession, a piece of land which was
granted by the Portuguese Government for the use of the British Central Africa
Protectorate so that goods can be transhipped here from the ocean-going steamers
J vide Appendix XL, p. 185.— H. H. J.
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
165
into the river boats. I did not stay on the Concession, however, but on a place
called the Extra Concession which has no privileges regarding exemptions from Customs
dues I put up at an hotel which is run by . Of course everything seems very
rough to me who have never been farther away than Switzerland before, but fellows
here tell me that Chinde is simply luxurious to what it was a few years ago. In
1890 it was practically unknown to Europeans, and there was not even a hut on the
present sandspit, which is the site of the town — everything was covered with thick
bush ; now, although the place is horribly ugly, being built almost entirely of corrugated
iron, it is fairly neat and clean. Most of the houses are of one story, but 's hotel
is not half a bad place, a sort of bungalow built of iron and wood with broad shady
verandahs. The food is anything but good, however, as fresh provisions are scarce and
most of the things we eat come out of tins.
** Chinde is a great peninsula of sand intersected with marshy tracts, which projects
into the Indian Ocean, having the sea on one side and the Chinde mouth of the Zambezi
on the other.
"Two days after our arrival at Chinde we started in the Lakes Company's steamer, the
James Stevenson^ which conveyed us up river as far as Chiromo. After leaving Chinde
we pursued a tortuous course up the Chinde River till we got into the main Zambezi.
Here the country was very uninteresting. The Zambezi is extremely broad and you are
never sure whether you are looking at the opposite bank or a chain of long flat islands.
Islands and shore are equally covered at this season of the year by grass of tremendous
height, and except an occasional fan-palm you see nothing behind the grass. Hippos
are very scarce and shy now owing to the way they have been shot at. Occasionally
however you see little black dots at a distance, and if you are looking through glasses you
can distinguish a hippo raising his head and stretching his jaws, but they always duck
when the steamer gets anywhere near. At the end of our second day we got to a place
called Vicenti, a sort of Portuguese station. A little while before we got there we
began to see something more interesting than the grass banks — the outline of a blue
mountain called Morambala, which overlooks the Shire River. Morambala is the
only hill to be seen for miles farther on beyond Vicenti. You hardly notice where you
get into the River Shire, as the country seems to have become quite demoralised at the
junction of the Shire with the Zambezi by
the intersection of innumerable channels y^^ ^T'^
of water and swamps. Morambala looks ^^^
a splendid mountain, however (about 4,000
feet high), as it rises up above the foetid
Morambala marsh. Beyond Morambala
the banks are dotted with innumerable
tall palms which I could not help thinking
very picturesque with their lofty whitish-
grey stems, and their crowns of elegantly-
shaped blue-green fronds.
* ♦ * •»
MT. MORAMBALA, FROM THE RIVER SHIRE
"The first place we stopped at in
British territory was Port Herald on the west bank of the Shire, a pretty little settlement
with very rich vegetation. The steamer had to stop here for a day for some reason
or other so I and two of my fellow passengers went out for a shoot. The Administration
official at the station lent us a guide, and we had awfully good sport, coming back
with a large male waterbuck, — a beast as big as a red deer — and two reedbuck which
are somewhat the size of a roe and very good eating The meat of the waterbuck is no
good, so we gave it to the natives ; but as I had shot the beast 1 kept the horns which
are very fine though not at all like a stag's, being quite simple without branches and
1 66 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
with an elegant curve and ever so many rings. Jones, one of my fellow passengers, saw
a lion whilst we were out shooting on this occasion, but was in too much of a funk to
fire, so the beast got away. He says his cartridge jammed ! but I don't believe him.
" Chiromo is an awfully pretty little place. The roads are broad and bordered with
fine shady trees planted close together. Some of the buildings are quite smart, though
of course at home we should think them small.
" Up to the present the climate has been lovely and I have not had a touch of fever.
It is quite cool at nights and one seldom gets mosquitos, but I am told that in the rainy
season they are an awful pest. In the middle of the day it is about as hot as a summer*s
day at home, but not too hot to walk about with or without an umbrella. This is the
beginning of the cool season of the year."
" Blantyre, June ^oih.
"I got up to Blantyre on June i8th. The small steamer of the Lakes Company
took us on from Chiromo to Katunga, up the Shire. You cannot go beyond Katunga
by water, or at least much beyond, because of the rapids and falls. The Steamer
Company arranged about the transport of my baggage and I simply saddled my pony,
which was in capital condition, and rode him gently up to Blantyre. The distance
is about 25 miles. I had sent a telegram from Katunga to say I was coming and old
McClear rode out and met me half-way. His plantation is not in Blantyre but about
seven miles out. However, we slept that night at an hotel in Blantyre and went on to
his plantation the next morning. The country is awfully pretty — very thickly wooded
in parts and with hills and mountains of bold outline. Water seems to be most
abundant ; every few miles you cross a running stream or rivulet. As far as climate goes
you might think yourself back in England, anywhere near Blantyre, at this season of the
year. All the houses are built of brick and every room, nearly, has a fireplace.
** It is very jolly at night to sit round a huge log fire and enjoy it, with the tempera-
ture outside almost down to freezing point. In fact some mornings there is a white rime
on the ground when you first go out.
" I have almost settled on buying a piece of land adjoining McClear's plantation.
It belongs to the Crow^n and I shall have to take these steps to buy it:— First of all
I have to get one of the surveyors here to go over the land with me and make a rough
plan of the boundaries so that we can get at some idea of the area and furnish the
Commissioner's OflSce with sufficient information to enable the officials to decide where
the land is and whether it can be sold. With these particulars I send a fee of ;^2,
which includes the surveyor's fees and the cost of inserting an announcement in the
Gazette, If the Commissioner decides to sell the land he will put a notice to that effect
in the Gazette and an upset-price will be fixed (probably 5^. an acre) and notice will be
given that the estate will be sold by public auction a fortnight after the announcement
appears. The sale will take place at the Court House in Blantyre. I shall have to
go there and if nobody bids against me I shall get the estate knocked down to nie
at the upset-price.
" Blantyre, August ist,
" I have bought my land — nobody bid against me— but I have had my first attack
of fever. Perhaps it is just as well to get it over, as they say you have it all the worse
if it is bottled up in your system. I think mine must have come on from a chill. I had
played in a tremendous cricket match got up at Blantyre, "The Administration v.
Planters,'' and after getting very hot went and sat about in the cool breeze, which
is about the most fatal thing you can do. The next day after breakfast I began to feel
a bit cheap — very shivery and a horrid pain in the back, and rather a sensation as though
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
167
I was going to have a tremendous cold. I am staying at Major McClears and he told
me at once I was in for a dose of fever, made me go to bed, gave me a purge and put
hot water bottles at my feet. Then I began to get awfully hot — my temperature went up
to 102 degrees — and after that came a sweat which soaked all the bed clothes, and then
I felt a bit better and wanted to get up but they advised me to stay in bed. I seemed
all right the next morning except that my ears were singing, but towards evening again
I felt beastly bad. I went to bed and vomited ever so many times, and thought I was
going to die. A doctor came to see me and found my temperature 103 degrees; he
brought it down with a dose of phenacitine. Eventually I got to sleep and woke up
much better, but I was down again the third day though not so bad. After that I felt
sharker's store at katunga
very weak and looked very yellow for a day or two, and then my appetite came back and
now I am just as fit as it is possible to be— a tremendous appetite and think the country
is the finest in the world though I can tell you whilst I had the fever on me I made an
awful ass of myself, telling them all I was going to die and sending all sorts of messages
to my people! I hear everybody does that when he has fever and no one seems
inclined to make fun of you on that account.
"Well : I have bought my land— 500 acres at 5 J. makes ;^i25. I shall have to pay
the Stamp Duties and eventually the cost of a survey. All this will come to about
another ^20— say in all ;£i5o. I have arranged to live with old McClear (it is awfully
kind of him to propose it) and learn the business whilst my own estate is being got
ready. He will give me a room and my board, and during all the time that I can spare
off my own land I am to help him and his son on their estate ; this of course will teach
me something about coffee planting.
"Blantyre is not half a bad place but it seems to me a good deal of hard drinking
1 68 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
goes on there. S medley, the Missionary doctor, says a white man ought not to touch
alcohol in Africa except when it is given to him as a medicine. That is all very well but
I can't see that a little lager beer does much harm, or a glass of good claret ; and as the
drinking water at Blantyre is not first rate and one can't always be swilling tea the entire
teetotal plan does not suit me ; at the same time I am willing to admit that a deal too
much whisky is consumed here. Somehow or other most of the chaps who come out
here to plant seem to get into the way of it. Perhaps I shall do the same. I must say
on these very cold nights before one turns in, whilst you are sitting round the pleasant
log fire a glass of hot whisky and water is very tempting and surely can't be harmful ?
The Doctor says it is, under all circumstances, and that all spirits have a most prejudicial
effect on the liver in Central Africa.
♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
" Pazulu, September lotk.
** This is the name of old Major McClear's plantation. I believe it means * up
above.' It is on a hill-side looking down on the River Lunzu and the bush is being
burnt in all directions. I am awfully fit and have been very busy clearing my land
of bush. This is how I have had to set about it. I found that a man named Carter
had just come down from the Atonga country on the west coast of Lake Nyasa with
a huge gang of Atonga labourers. Some of the chaps do this every now and then when
they have got time on their hands — go up the west coast of Nyasa (where they get
very good sport) and come back with a gang of men for work. After supplying their
own plantations they pass on the others to planters and traders who want men. All
these men are registered at the Government office, either in the country they come from
or at some place like Blantyre. You have to engage them before a Government official
and everything is written down fair and square — the time you engage them for, the
amount you are going to pay them, and so on. Each man gets a copy of the contract
and you have to pay a shilling for the stamp on it, that is to say a shilling for each
labourer. You may not engage them for more than a year even if you want to, and
if they want to stay. Ordinarily one takes them for six months and you have to give
a deposit or a bond to provide for the cost of their return passage money to their homes.
If a man runs away before the time of his contract is completed without any breach
of the agreement on your part he can be punished and you can proceed against him for
damages up to a certain amount if he refuse to complete the term for which he is
engaged ; of course you have a further hold over them because you do not pay them the
full sum for their services till their time is up. When you pay them off you have to
do so before the Government officer who sees that what you give them is that which
is owing to them.
" I have got a gang of fifty men and a * capitao.' They are all Atonga — a cheery
lot though rather unruly at times and ready to knock off work if you do not keep a
sharp look out. The head man of any gang is called a * capitao * which I believe is
a Portuguese word — the same as 'captain.' My * capitao* when he is at work wears
precious little clothing, but on Sundays he puts on a long coat with brass buttons and
a red fez which he has bought at a store or which was part of his last year's payment.
His name is Moses. Of course he has got an Atonga name of his own but the
missionaries in this country will give them all Biblical names (which I think is awfully
bad taste, but the Atonga do not share my views and Mosesi, as he calls himself, admires
his Bible name tremendously). 1 am to pay these men three shillings a month each and
the * capitao ' five shillings. Besides this they get their food allowance or * posho ' as
it is somecimes called. This I generally give to them in white calico (which costs me
2j</. a yard). I give my men four yards a week each with six yards for the * capitao.'
This with occasional extras brings up the cost of their food to 2d, a day with a little
extra for the head man. Some of the other traders here only give out food allowance
at the rate of three yards a week per man, but food has become very dear, relatively
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
169
speaking, round Blantyre; and if our labourers do not receive sufficient food cloth
or money in lieu thereof they are bound to steal from the native gardens and so get into
trouble I wonder some of the planters and traders here do not see that it is far and
away the best policy to treat one's labourers generously in the way of food. There
is nothing which will attach the negro more to your service than to give him plenty
to eat A man who feeds him well may beat him as much as he pleases in moderation
and the man will still remain attached and return to the same plantation year after year ;
besides you can get a lot more work out of the men if they are well nourished, and
really I assure you no one ever did such credit to good food as a negro whose eyes
are bright whose skin is clear and whose temper is sunny, when he is well fed.
"Talking about beating; of course it goes on to some extent though it is illegal
in the eyes of the Administration, but a certain amount
of discipline must be kept up by the head man of a
gang and trifling corrections are not noticed by the
authorities provided the men make no complaint ; but
in old days, I am told, before there was any Government
here the amount of flogging that went on was a great
deal too bad, and some cases were downright savage.
The instrument used is a * chicote ' ^ — a long, thin,
rounded strip of hippopotamus hide about the thickness
of a finger .... stiff but slightly pliant. If this is
applied to the bare skin it almost invariably breaks it
and causes bleeding. For my part I am jolly careful
not to get into trouble, and when one of my chaps was
caught stealing the other day I preferred to bring him
up before the Police Court and have him punished there
instead of taking the law into my own hands.
" The first part of the estate we began to clear was
the possible site for a house. I chose this on a little
knoll overlooking the Lunzu and about fifty feet above
the bank of the river which is seventy yards distant. 1
flattened the top of the knoll and had to cut down one
or two trees. After this I selected the site of my
nurseries and resolved to thoroughly clear, in addition, a *'capitao**
about ICO acres for planting. The process of clearing
is now going on briskly. I get up every morning at six and walk over from McClear's
house to my own plantation and turn out my Atonga who are living in -fnisasa (ram-
shackle shelters of sticks and thatch which they make to house themselves). Then the
men turn out with cutlasses and axes and set to work cutting down the terribly rampant
grass and herbage, and here and there a useless, shadeless tree or shrub. I am carefully
leaving all the big trees for the shade they will give to the coffee ; they will grow all the
finer for the clearing of the growth around them.
"All the bush which is thus cut down will be left to lie in the sun and dry.
Then the Atonga will pile it into heaps a few yards distant one from the other and
set fire to it, and when it is burnt to ashes they will spread the ashes over the soil
and dig it in. I am advised to get native women of the district to do this for me
with native hoes. The women here work exceedingly hard — much better than the
men — and ask less pay. A little while later on they will be beginning to prepare
their own plantations before the big rains so it is as well to get them now if 1 can.
For chance labour hke this, for any term less than a month and within their own
district I shan't have to register them."
^ A Portuguese word. — H. H. J.
ijo BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
" Pazulu, Novcffiber 20th,
" I have been much too busy to write any letters for the last two months — awfully busy
but wonderfully well and not the least bit dull. When I had cleared my ground for the
plantation I had it lined out in regular rows from six feet to seven feet apart, and at
intervals of about six feet along these rows we dug pits 18 inches wide and 18 inches
deep. The pits were left open for some six weeks *' to weather," then we filled them
up with soil, which was mixed with a manure made of cow-dung and wood ashes. After
each pit had been filled up we stuck into the middle of it a bamboo stick (bamboos grow
in abundance along the stream bank and on the hill-sides and are very useful) to mark
the place where the coffee plant was to be put it. I made arrangements with a neigh-
bouring planter to buy sufficient coffee seedlings of a year's growth to plant up the
50 acres I have cleared. Every day we expect the rainy season to begin now — in fact
to-day the 20th November is the date on which the big rains ordinarily begin near
Blantyre (we had occasional showers in July and August and one or two in September,
but no rain at all in October, only a lot of thunder and lightning and an occasional dry
tornado). As soon as the rains have really broken I shall put the coffee plants in these
pits. I am told that whilst the coffee grows the weeds grow even quicker, and that the
hardest time I shall have with my own men will be during December, January and
February, keeping the weeds down. If we are not incessantly at work hoeing in
between the coffee plants they will be smothered by the growth of weeds.
" It is so very good of old McClear to put me up in his house that I have been
doing my best to help him in between working on my own plantation. He gathered
his first coffee crop this year, and is very pleased at the result. The berries were
picked off the trees (which are three years old) at the end of June and the beginning of
July, and all this was over before I arrived on the scene ; but I saw the berries when they
were be?hg pulped by machinery. By this process the sweet fleshy covering of the
berries is taken off and the bean is disclosed encased in its parchment skin. You know
of course that this splits into two seeds when you take off the dry skin and it is merely
these seeds which you see when the coffee reaches you at home. I shall not get a
pulper till I have owned my plantation for about four years, as it is hardly worth while
for a poor man to have a maiden crop off a small plantation pulped by machinery.
" After the beans are pulped they are passed into a brick vat where they are left to
ferment for between 24 and 36 hours. Then they are removed to a second vat and
thoroughly washed in water. Then they are taken out and dried on mats. After this
they are further dried in a drying house and constantly turned over to prevent anything
like mould. All through the end of September and the beginning of October we were
busy packing the coffee in stout canvas bags, weighing about 56 lbs. each. Each bag
was numbered and marked with McClear's initials by stencil plates, and handed over to
one of the transport companies here to be shipped direct to London, via Chinde. It
will of course be carried partly on men's heads and partly in waggons down to Katunga,
and then they will send it down river to Chinde. It is to be hoped they w^ill be
careful not to put the bags into a leaky boat or steamer, because if they are wetted
the coffee will be quite spoiled. The cost of sending this coffee from Blantyre to
London is about £,% a ton.
" Blantyre, ya«i/flry \st
"In spite of the rainy season which is well on us, we have spent a very jolly
Christmas at Blantyre. Most of the planters from Cholo and the other districts round
Blantyre have congregated here for Christmas week. We had a little mild horse-racing
and a shooting competition. Like most of the other Europeans here I belong to the
Shire Highlands Shooting Club, but I did not score over well on this occasion, because
I was a bit off colour, having had another little touch of fever — caused by the beginning
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 171
of the rainy season I expect. We had a smoking concert in the Court House which
was lent to us for the occasion, and the missionaries got up a big bazaar in aid of their
school-house, and afterwards a lot of us were entertained at the Manse by the senior
missionary where we heard some really good music. You have no idea what a pretty
place the Manse is. It is rather a rambling house with a low thatched roof, but all the
rooms open on to the verandahs with glass doors and plenty of windows so that they are
very light inside though shielded from the sun.
** There is a fairly good club here with lots of newspapers. 1 belong to the club and
get a bedroom there whenever I come into Blantyre. I cannot say I think much of the
hotels. Perhaps when more Europeans come to the country it will be worth while
building a good place to receive them where a check will be set on the unlimited
consumption of whisky, which at present tends to a good deal of noise and brawling
of a not very creditable kind. Whisky is the curse of this country as far as Europeans
are concerned, and is the cause of more than half the sickness.
" One of the chief drawbacks to this place, after all, is the lack of news. Blantyre
is a hot-bed of gossip and rumours simply because it has no daily newspaper. There
are no Reuter's telegrams to read at the club every day because we are not in direct
telegraph communication with the outer world. The mails arrive with much uncertainty;
this is partly owing to the irregular way in which the ocean-going steamers call at Chinde.
There are supposed to be two mails from Europe landed at Chinde in the month, but
ijometimes they both come together and then there is a month's interval before another
mail arrives ; or when the mail is landed at Chinde there may be no steamer ready to
start up-river with it. Again, in the dry season the steamers may stick on a sandbank
before they reach Chiromo, and then the mails have to be sent overland to Blantyre, but
the mail-carriers may have to ford flooded rivers, or they may be scared by a lion, so the
time they take varies from two and a half to five days. Usually our letters and papers
from England are six to seven weeks old when they reach us and I suppose my letters
take the same time to reach you. Yet it is wonderful how much up to date people are
here in information. It is astonishing what a lot everybody reads, and what heaps
of newspapers and magazines are taken in. The Administration has started a lending
library with a very decent collection of books, and although this is supposed to be
primarily for Administration officials outsiders may by permission be allowed to join.
We have a Planters' Association and Chamber of Commerce.
"The best fun I think is shooting. Game near Blantyre is getting scarce though
there are heaps of lions and leopards, but it is so difficult to see them in the long grass
and thick bush. What I enjoy, however, is going from a Saturday to Monday towards
a mountain called Chiradzulu, and along the river Namasi. We always give our labourers
on the plantations a Saturday half-holiday, and I can generally trust the capitaos to see
that the men do a fair amount of work in the Saturday morning, so that I can sometimes
get away on the Friday night with a companion or two. We take tent, beds, folding
chairs and table, a few pots and pans and a basket of provisions. One of the chaps who
generally comes with me brings his cook with him, a native boy trained at the Mission
and not half a bad cook either. We usually ride out on our ponies as far as the
Administration station on the Namasi river, as there is 4 good road there. Here we
leave the nags under shelter and then strike off into the bush. Of course the rains are
now on us and this sort of thing is not so pleasant in wet weather, but it was very jolly
at the end of the dry season when the dense grass and bush were burnt, after the bush
fires, and one could get about easily and see the game. We generally chose a place by
the banks of a stream with plenty of shade, for our camp. The next day we would walk
something like twenty miles in the course of our shooting, and although our luck varied
1/2
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
we seldom failed to get two or three buck at least. As to the guinea fowl, they were
there in swarms ! It was awfully jolly sitting smoking round a huge camp fire, so
perfectly safe and yet in such a wild country with lions roaring at intervals not far away,
and the queer sounds of owls and tiger-cats and chirping insects coming from the thick
bush. Our boys used to build rough shelters of branches to sleep in and try to keep up
fires through the night, more to scare away wild beasts than for any other reason.
Recently these little jaunts have been more charming on account of the gorgeousness
of the wild flowers, for this is the spring of the year. I am a bit of a botanist, you
know, but even if I was not I could not help admiring the gorgeous masses of colour
which the different flowers produce among the young green grass, on the bushes, and on
the big trees."
IN CAMP— AFTER A DAYS SHOOTING
"Pazulu, February i^fh,
" We have had an anxious time here with young McClear. He went down the
Upper Shire to look at some land that his father is thinking of investing in for growing
sugar (as the sugar cane grows there in tremendous luxuriance and there is a great
local demand for sugar), but he is a very careless chap, you know, and what with getting
wet through with rain and exposing himself too much to the sun and drinking whatever
water he comes across, he has fallen ill with black-water fever since he came back to
Blantyre. Nobody can quite account for this peculiar disease. Some people say it
comes from turning up the new soil of a very rank kind ; others — and they are generally
doctors — assert that the germ is quite different from that in malarial fever, and enters the
system from water, either through the pores of the skin in bathing or through the
stomach, if the infected water is drunk. Therefore there should be one very simple
preventative by having all one's washing and drinking water boiled. However it may be,
young McClear went down with it very suddenly only two days after he got back. He
seemed quite well in the morning, ate his breakfast as usual, and went out to the
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 173
plantation, but at eleven o'clock I met him coming back to breakfast (we have an early
breakfast at six and a big breakfast at eleven — no luncheon) an hour before the usual
time. I thought he looked awfully queer. There was a grey look about his face and he
was very dark about the eyes. He told me he felt a frightful pain in his back and was
very cold. Instead of coming to breakfast he went to bed. Presently his boy came down
to tell us that * Master was very bad.' Old McClear went up and found that his son had
got the * black-water ' fever. He vomited steadily all that day, and at night-fall was as
yellow as a guinea, besides being dreadfully weak. Of course we had the doctor over as
soon as possible, but in this disease doctors at present can do very little. Quinine is of
no avail and all that you can aim at is keeping up the patient's strength. Young McClear
was smartly purged and then given champagne and water to drink, and he went on
vomiting all night and the greater part of next day. The doctor then injected morphia
into his arm and this stopped the vomiting and gave him a little sleep. After that he
managed to keep down some chicken broth, and the third and fourth days he mended.
In six days he was seemingly all right, though a little weak, and on the seventh day he
was actually up and about, and his skin had almost regained its normal colour.
" After a go of black-water fever it is always better to leave the country for a change
if you can, but you ought not to hurry away too soon lest the fatigues of the journey
should bring on a relapse, and therefore McClear will wait till April and then run down
to Natal and back for a trip. Many men who come to this country never get black-water
fever, either because they take great care of themselves or because the germs which cause
the disease by attacking the red-blood corpuscles cannot get the mastery over their
systems, but where a man finds himself to be subject to attacks of this disease I should
advise him to quit: Central Africa is not for him."
" Pazulu, May 2nd,
" Our rainy season came to an end a couple of weeks ago and I want to lose no time
about building my house as a large quantity of bricks will have to be made during this
dry season. I have hired some native brickmakers. from Blantyre. They will be able
to make about 1,000 bricks a day. I shall need about 45,000 bricks for my house. I
have been cutting timber on McClear's land by arrangement, for joists and beams. The
doors, match-board skirting, &c., I shall buy at one of the stores in Blantyre, where I
shall also get corrugated iron for the roof and the timber for the inner ceiling, without
which the bare iron would be a great deal too hot in the summer and too cold in the
winter. I shall take care that all the rooms have fire-places. I cannot tell you how
necessary fires are here for health and comfort. Fortunately we have any quantity of
fire-wood. As I am trying hard to keep within my thousand pounds I shall not build a
house of more than three rooms with a nice large verandah, and a portion of the
verandah will be cut off as a bath-room and communicate with the bed-room by a door.
" The other two rooms will be respectively dining-room and oflSce in one, and private
sitting-room. I shall also run up a small brick store with a strong roof and a strong
door (to prevent thieving). My kitchen will be wattle and daub with a thatched roof
and a brick chimney and will stand at a little distance from the house connected with it
by a covered way. Another corner of the verandah beside the bath-room will be
enclosed as a pantry and private store-room for provisions. In building my house I am
strongly cautioned to avoid "a through draught." The principle on which the oldest
planters' houses were built was a very unhealthy one. The front door opened into a
kind of hall which was used as a dining-room, and immediately opposite the front door
was a back door by which the food was brought in to the table. The result was that
persons sitting at the table sat in a draught, and to sit in a draught in this country or to
get a chill in any way is the surest cause of fever.
" My verandah will be paved with tiles which I can obtain in Blantyre from the men
who make them. The foundations of the house will be brick, over which I shall put a
good layer of cement to stop any nonsense on the part of white ants, though on my
1 74
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
-estate we are not troubled with these pests so far as I know, but Thomas, of Blantyre,
who lives near here, after building a very nice house has been awfully troubled with the
white ants, who in a few nights would build up a huge ant-hill in the middle of the
drawing-room, if he was away and the house shut up. They also came up under his
bed and broke out all through the walls. The result was he had to take up his carefully
laid floors, and dig and dig and dig, until he rooted out at least three separate nests. In
one case he was obliged to tunnel down something like ten feet before he found the
queen ; and until you have found and extirpated the queens your work has been for
nothing, for if you fill up the hole the white ant community soon gets to rights again
and recommences operations. The worst of it is, you never know whether there may
not be more than one queen in the nest and whether you have destroyed them all !
NATIVES MAKING BRICKS
" In front of my house I intend to have a small terrace, which I shall plant in an
orderly way with flower beds. Last month I ran over to Zomba for a visit and stayed
with one of the officials of the Administration, and there I saw old VV who is in
-charge of the Botanical Gardens, who has given me lots of flower seeds, and promised
me any amount of plants and strawberries, as soon as my garden is ready to receive
them. W is giving away strawberry plants to everyone and I wonder that they are
not more run after as those planted at Zomba produce excellent crops year after year,
the fruit season lasting about five months. They are not large strawberries like those at
home, but a small Alpine kind. Yet they are very fragrant and very sweet.
"Down in the lower country near Lake Chilwa, you see a most extraordinary
Euphorbia growing, which I am afraid most of the planters call "cactuses."^ These are
both quaint and ornamental, and I am going to plant some of them along the bottom of
my garden. In the centre of my flower beds I shall put wild date palms, which grow
in the stream-valleys, and at each corner of the terrace there shall be a raphia palm.
^ There are n9 cacti in Africa, except the Opuntia (prickly pear) introduced from America into North
and South Africa.— H. H. J.
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
175
There is one attraction in this country for people who like flowers and palms on the
table and about the house. Here they cost absolutely nothing. You have only to send
a boy into the bush and he will come back with a young palm which would cost at least a
guinea at home, or with a handful of flowers such as you might see in a horticultural show.
"My coffee presents a most thriving appearance. 1 keep it studiously free from
weeds. Next October I shall be ready to plant up another fifty acres.
"You asked me to give you some idea of Blantyre. It seems hardly correct to
speak of it as a town as the houses are still very scattered, yet it is now constituted
as a township, and rather well laid out with roads. When all the blanks between the
present dwellings are filled up, it will be a very large and important city. At present its
future greatness is, as the French would say, only ebauche. The most striking feature is
the church, which is a very handsome red brick building, apparently a mixture of Norman
and Byzantine styles with white domes. It is really an extraordinarily fine church for the
centre of Africa, and is appropriately placed in the middle of a large open space or
square, without any other buildings near at hand to dwarf its proportions. When we had
the Kawinga scare two or three months ago (I forgot to tell you that Kawinga the old slave-
raiding chief to the north of Zomba
attempted to try conclusions with
the British two months ago), it
was reported by the natives that
Kawinga's object in invading Blan-
tyre would be to secure the church
to himself as a residence ! It is
at present the mean by which all
natives measure their ideas of a
really fine building. On one side
of the square there are gardens be-
longing to the mission ; on the
other side a very handsome school
designed somewhat in the Moorish
style of architecture. Along the
Zomba road to the north of the
church are the residences of the
European missionaries. This church
square is connected with the rest of
Blantyre by a handsome avenue of
cypresses and eucalyptus. The
growth of the cypresses is astonish-
ing, as well as their lateral bulk, and
the road is completely shaded and
delightful for a stroll, because of a
strong wholesome perfiime from
these conifers. The soil about here
is very red, and the neatly -made
roads branching off in all directions
passing through very green vegeta-
tion give a pretty effect to the eye.
i'here are no buildings along this road until you reach the vicinity of the Administration
headquarters which are locally known as the *Boma.'^ Here we come to a good many
buildings, and all of them red brick with corrugated iron roofs and of one storey.
The corrugated iron is not as ugly as you might think as it is mostly painted red, which
gives it more the appearance of tiles.
* ** Boma" is a Swahili word for "stockade." The first settlement of the Government here was on a
piece of property belonging to a native which had a stockade of ihorn around it. SDon after this wns
purchased, however, the thorn hedge was done away with.— H. H. J.
CYPRESS AVENUE, BLANTYRE
1/6
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
"Continuing along the straight road, and leaving the Government buildings to the
right, you cross the Mudi stream by a fine bridge,^ built by the African Lakes Company.
On the other side of the Mudi one is on the property of the African Lakes Company
which is a large suburb, called Mandala, on rising ground, from which a fine view can be
obtained of the Mission settlement. At Mandala there are many houses and stores and
workshops and stables — all very
neatly made of brick, with iron roofs.
There are handsome roads and
gardens and a perfect forest of
eucalyptus. The company has ex
tensive nurseries there which extend
down to the banks of the Mudi, and
has had the good taste to preser\e
a bit of the old forest w^hich covered
the site of Blantyre when the
missionaries first arrived. This
forest chiefly consisted of a sf>ecies
of acacia tree which has dense dark
green foliage in flat layers giving to
it at a distance almost the appear-
ance of a cedar. Beyond Mandala
one joins the main road to Katunga,
and the scenery becomes absolutely
beautiful as you mount up towards
the shoulder of Soche mountain.
Here in all directions there is a
beautiful forest, and the views in
the direction of the Shire river
might vie with the average pretty
scenery of any country. There are
still numbers of coffee plantations
on the outskirts of Blantyre, though
the tendency of the planters would
naturally be to keep their future
plantations farther away from the
vicinity of the town. The natives of
Blantyre are a rather heterogeneous
lot. The foundation of the stock
is of Mang'anja race, crossed with
Yao, who invaded the country some years ago ; but for many years refugees from other
parts of the Protectorate have been gathering round the Mission station, the Lakes
Company, Sharrer's Traffic Company, and other large employers of labour, all of whom
have brought men down from the lakes and up from the Zambezi, who have gradually
made their permanent homes at Blantyre. Morality is very low, and although they are
not strikingly dishonest still they are not above petty pilfering, and the coffee plantations
.which are too near the town are apt to have their berries picked by the black Blantyre
citizens at night, and the coffee thus acquired is sent out and sold to native planters —
for some of the educated natives and small chiefs have started coffee plantations.
" Unfortunately, the water supply here is very bad, though a little energy would set
it all right. There is the Mudi stream, for instance, which flows perennially without much
diminution, even in the dry season ; but the upper waters of the Mudi flow through
native villages and the settlements of the missionary scholars, and all these people wash
their clothes and persons in the river, besides emptying into it all kinds of filth. The
^ The Mudi is crossed higher up by another bridge which the Administration has just made. — H. H. J.
EUCALYFrUS AVENUE, ZOMBA
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
177
result is that its waters are quite unfit for drinking purposes. A few of the settlers have
wells, but all of these except two seem to produce slightly brackish unwholesome water.
Away to the north of Blantyre arises another very fine stream, the Likubula. This is
rather too much below the level of Blantyre to make it easy to convey the water to the
township. The simplest expedient would seem to be the purification of the Mudi.
** But if the Mudi be at present unwholesome its banks are charming for the foliage
of the trees and the loveliness of the wild flowers. I would notice specially one crimson
lily which gives a succession of flowers for many months of the year.
" And yet how extraordinary people are in regard to wild flowers ! I remember when
I had just been admiring these red lilies on the Mudi*s banks I went to dinner with one
of the married couples in Blantyre, and the lady of the house apologised to me for the
bareness of the table, complaining that her garden as yet produced no flowers. Yet she
had only got to send one of the servants out to the banks of the stream and to the
adjoining fields and she could have decked her table with red lilies, mauve, orange, and
white ground-orchids, and blue bean flowers in a way which would excite anyone's envy
at home.
" My reference to * married couples ' reminds me to tell you that a good many of
the men settled here are married and their wives seem to stand the climate as well
as if not even better than their husbands, because, I imagine, they are exposed less to the
sun and do not have so much outdoor work. Although it is not consistent with the
duties of the planter still it is borne in on my mind that the healthiest life in Central
Africa is an indoor life. People who keep very much to the house and do not go out
or go far afield between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. never seem to get fever. At the same time
you should not remain out after sunset as you are apt to get a chill.
I do not know whether in the foregoing extracts from supposititious
letters I have succeeded in giving a fairly correct idea of the life that Europeans
lead under present conditions in British Central Africa. More will be said
on this subject in dealing with the Missionaries.
For the trader and the planter I think it may
be said that the country offers sufficiently sure and
rapid profits for their enterprise to compensate the
risk run in the matter of health. The various
trading companies in the countrj'^ appear to be
doing well with an ever-extending business and
to be constantly increasing the number of their
establishments. Even traders in a small way, if
they have energy and astuteness, may reap con-
siderable earnings with relatively small outlay.
One man, for instance, went up to Kotakota on
Lake Nyasa with a few hundreds of pounds at his
disposal, bought a large number of cattle at a
very low price in the Marimba district and pur-
chased all the ivory the Arabs at Kotakota had
to dispose of, and on his total transaction made a
clear profit of ;^20CX) by selling the cattle and
ivory at Blantyre ; but it appears to me that as
time goes on the European trading community
will be limited to the employes of two or three
great trading companies commanding considerable capital, and to a number
of British Indians who will not in any way conflict with the commerce of the
Europeans because they will often act as the middlemen buying up small
12
A PLANTER
178 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
quantities of produce here and there from the natives which they will re-sell
in large amounts to the European firms and agencies.
The remainder of the European settlers i^ill be rather planters than traders,
disposing likewise of their produce to the commercial companies in British
Central Africa. Originally when there was very little or no cash in the country
every planter had likewise to be a trader on a small scale as all labourers
were paid in trade goods, and all the food that he bought from the natives was
purchased in the same manner. Now the country is full of cash, and in many
districts the natives refuse to accept any pa>Tnent except in money, preferring to
go to the principal stores and make their purchases there. To a certain extent,
moreover, money payments are now compulsory between European employers
and their native employes ; moreover a planter often objects to taking out a
trading licence and prefers instead to relinquish his small commerce in this respect
Briefly stated, the only serious drawback to British Central Africa as a
field of enterprise for trader or planter is malarial fever, either in its
ordinary form, or in its severest type which is commonly known as black-
water fever. I shall have a few words to say about this malady further on.
AN IVORY CARAVAN ARRIVING AT KOTAKOTA
The advantages are, at the present time, that land is cheap; the country
is almost everywhere well watered by perennial streams, and by a reasonable
rainfall ; the scenery is beautiful in many of the upland districts ; the climate
is delicious — seldom too hot and often cold and pleasant ; there is an abundance
of cheap native labour; transport, though offering certain difficulties inherent
in all undeveloped parts of Africa, is growing far easier and cheaper than in
Central South Africa, as the Shire river is navigable at all times of the year,
except for about 80 miles of its course, and Lake Nyasa is an inland sea with
A shore line of something like 800 miles. Moreover, the cost of simple articles
of food such as oxen, goats or sheep, or of antelopes and other big game,
poultry, eggs, and milk is cheap, together with the prices of a few vegetables
like potatoes or grain like Indian corn; and all the European goods are not so
expensive as they would be in the interior of Australia, in Central South Africa,
or in the interior of South America because of the relative cheapness of
transport from the coast and of the very low Customs duties.
To sum up the question, I might state with truth that du^ for malarial fever
this country would be an earthly paradise ; the " but " however is a very big one.
Whether the development of medical science will enable us to find the same
antidote to malarial fever as we have found for small-pox in vaccination,
or whether drugs will be discovered which will make the treatment of the
disease and recovery therefrom almost certain, remains to be seen. If however
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 179
here, as in other parts of tropical Africa, this demon could be conjured, beyond
all question the prosperity of Western Africa, of the Congo Basin and of British
Central Africa would be almost unbounded.
Ordinary malarial fever is serious but not so dangerous as that special form
of it which is styled " black-water " or haematuric. The difference between the
effects of the two diseases is this. Ordinary malarial fever is seldom immediately
fatal but after continued attacks the patient is often left with some permanent
weakness. Black-water fever is either fatal in a very few days or has such
a weakening effect on the heart that the patient dies during convalescence from
sudden syncope; but where black-water fever does not kill it never leaves
(as far as I am aware) permanent effects on the system of the sufferer. One
attack, however, predisposes to another and as a rule each succeeding attack is
more severe than its predecessor. Consequently a man who has had, say, two
attacks of black-water fever should not return to any part of Africa where that
disease is endemic.^
The origin and history of bilious haemoglobinuric or " black-water " fever are
still obscure. No mention of this disease would appear to have been made
until the middle of this century when it was described by the French naval
surgeons at Nossib^ in Madagascar. According to Dr. Wordsworth Poole, the
principal medical officer of the British Central Africa Protectorate, true black-
water fever has occurred in parts of America and in the West Indies besides
those portions of Africa and Madagascar to which I have made allusion in
the footnote. Dr. Poole states that he has seen a case of it in Rome and that
it is said to occur in Greece. The cases occurring in tropical America which
Dr. Poole cites I should be inclined to ascribe to a variation of the ordinary
type of yellow fever. Now yellow fever, in my opinion, is a very near
conitection of black-water fever, and some writers on Africa have stated that
yellow fever was actually engendered on the slave ships which proceeded
from West Africa to South America, and have suggested it was simply an
acute development of the ordinary African haemoglobinuric fever.
One remarkable feature in this disease appears to be that assuming it is
only endemic in certain parts of Africa, its germs would seem to be capable
of lying dormant for some time in the human system and then to suddenly
multiply into prodigious activity and produce an attack of black-water fever
some time after the individual has left the infected district. For instance,
in 1893 after having been absent nearly two months from British Central
Africa in Cape Colony and in Natal, I had a most severe attack of black-water
fever, which commenced at Durban on board a gunboat and finished at Delagoa
Bay. Again, when travelling through the Tyrol in the autumn of 1894, I
was suddenly seized with a slight but obvious attack of this fever after
returning from a mountain ascent. Although only ill for about twenty-four
* At the present time black-water fever is endemic on the West Coast of Africa from the Gambia
on the north to Benguela on the south, and inland as hr as the limits of the forest country of West Africa.
It extends over the whole of the Congo basin. I believe a few cases were noted on the White Nile and
the western tributaries of the Nile before the Mahdi's revolt expelled the Europeans from these parts.
It is endemic in the regions round the Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika; in the eastern half of Britbh
Central Africa ; along the whole course of the Zamb^ between Zumbo and its mouth ; in the Portiiguese
province of Mofambique ; in German East Africa ; and in British East Africa. It is said not to be
endemic in the islands of Zanzibar and Pembaand that those persons who have suffered from it there brought
the germs of it from some other part of Africa. I have not heard that it exists at Beira or south of the
Zambezi, but should not be surprised to learn that cases of it occasionally occur there. Roughly speaking,
it ma^jT be said that as far as we know the Upper Niger regions, the North Central and fiistem Sudan,
Aliyssinia, Somaliland, Galaland, Egypt, Northern Africa and Africa South of the Zambezi are free from
it It is said to occur in Madagascar.
i8o BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
hours I had every symptom of black-water fever in a marked form. A case
occurred with one of the ladies of the Universities Mission at Zanzibar who
had an attack of black-water fever which came on after her return to England.
The mortality in black-water fever is about 40 per cent, among those who
have the disease for the first time ; 50 per cent among those who have it for
the second time ; 75 per cent, among those who have it for the third time ; and
it is very rare that anyone survives more than three attacks. Not counting the
trifling little touch in the Tyrol, I have had four attacks of this disease at
different periods from 1886 to 1896. I know one of the German officials in
East Africa who has survived five attacks and is apparently in robust health,
and Dr. Kerr Cross mentions an European in North Nyasa (in good health at
the present time) who has had this fever ten times !
On the last occasion when I had black-water fever I derived very great
benefit from a single injection of morphia, which checked the vomiting and
gave the body time for repose and recuperation. Otherwise I know of
absolutely no drug which has been proved really efficacious in treating this
dangerous disease. All we can say at the present time is that good nursing
and a good constitution will generally pull patients through an attack. Quinine
appears to be of little use, unless during convalescence.
The symptoms of the disease are the following : —
The patient ordinarily complains of a severe pain in his back and a general
sense of malaise. This is often succeeded by a violent shivering fit Upon
passing urine the latter is found to be a dark sepia colour, and subsequently
becomes a deep black with reddish reflexions, which accounts for the popular
name given to the fever. Sometimes the colour is almost the tint of burgundy
or claret Not many hours after the attack has begun the colour of the
patient's skin becomes increasingly yellow. The temperature may sometimes
be as high as 105 degrees following on the shivering fit, but high temperatures
are not necessarily a very marked or serious symptom in black-water fever. A
most distressing vomiting is perhaps the most customary symptom next to the
black water.
The best way to treat this fever is to put the patient immediately to bed,
placing hot-water bottles at his feet, and to give him a strong purge. At first
the vomiting should not be checked, but as soon as it tends to weaken the
patient it ought to be stopped, if not by some opiate drug administered through
the stomach, then by an injection of morphia. When it is deemed that the
patient has vomited sufficiently to get rid of the poison in the system, and the
further vomiting has been to some extent checked, nourishment should then
be administered at frequent intervals — strong beef-tea, milk and brandy, ^g^s
beaten up with port wine, &c. Champagne and water, especially if this drink
can be iced and made into a champagne-cup, is excellent. Champagne is often
of great use in this disease in restoring the patient's strength. Once the
dangerous crisis of the disease is passed and any relapse is guarded against
by the most careful nursing, the patient is pretty sure to recover, unless he has
naturally a very weak heart. The recovery is often pleasantly quick. In all
my attacks of black-water fever there has rarely elapsed more than a week
between the commencement of the disease and the power to get up and walk
about, and convalescence in other ways has come rapidly.
Undoubtedly much ill-health might be avoided in tropical Africa by the
adoption of very temperate, habits. I have written strongly on the drink
question in such Reports to the Government as have been published ; I do not
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
i8i
therefore propose to repeat my diatribes in this book. But it should be added
that what I object to is not the drinking of good wine or beer, but the con-
sumption of spirits. Whisky is the bane of Central Africa as it is of West
Africa, South Africa and Australia. I dare say brandy is as bad as whisky
but it has passed out of fashion as a drink, and therefore it has not incurred
my animosity to the same extent as the national product of Scotland and
Ireland.^ Moreover, brandy is invaluable in sickness. If any spirits are drunk
it seems to me that gin is the least harmful, as it has a good effect on the
kidneys. In hot climates like that of Central Africa whisky seems to have
a bad effect on the liver and on the kidneys.
I do not suppose these words will have much effect on my readers.
IVORY AT MANDALA STORE (AFRICAN LAKES COMPANY)
Alcoholic excess is our national vice, and while we are ready enough to
deplore the opium-eating-or-smoking on the part of the Indians or Chinese,
— a vice which is not comparable in its ill effects to the awful abuse of alcohol
which is so characteristic of the northern peoples of Europe, — we still remain
indifferent to the effects of spirit-drinking which has been the principal vice of
the nineteenth century. The abuse of wine or beer, though bad like all abuses,
is a relatively wholesome excess compared to even a moderate consumption of
spirits. Though I think of the two extremes total abstinence is the better course
to follow in Central Africa, I do not recommend total abstinence from all forms
of alcohol. I think, on the contrary, the moderate use of wine is distinctly
beneficial, especially for anaemic people.
Trading with the natives on a large scale is, as I have said, chiefly confined
to two or three large companies — the African Lakes, Sharrer's, the Oceana
Company and Kahn & Co. But a small amount of barter chiefly for provisions
^ Which alone, I believe, among strong waters develops the poisonous Fusel Oil.
l82
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
is still carried on by all Europeans residing in the less settled parts of British
Central Africa. The imported trade goods consisted chiefly of cotton stuffs
from Manchester and Bombay, beads from Birmingham and Venice, blankets
from England, India and Austria, fezzes from Algeria and from Newcastle-
under-Lyne, boots from Northampton, felt hats from various parts of England,
hardware and brass wire and hoes from Birmingham, cutlery from Sheffield,
and various fancy goods from India.
The trade products which British Central Africa gives us in exchange for
these goods and for much English money in addition are : Ivory, coffee, hippo,
teeth, rhinoceros horns, cattle, hides, wax, rubber, oil seeds, sanseviera fibre,
tobacco, sugar (locally consumed), wheat (ditto), maize (ditto), sheep, goats and
poultry (ditto), timber (ditto), and the Strophanthus drug.
KAHN AND CO's TRADING STORE AT KOTAKOTA
It only remains to say a few words about the relations between the
Europeans and the natives. I am convinced that this eastern portion of
British Central Africa will never be a white man's country in the sense that
all Africa south of the Zambezi, and all Africa north of the Sahara will
eventually become — countries where the white race is dominant and native to the
soil. Between the latitudes of the Zambezi and the Blue Nile, Africa must in
the first instance be governed in the interests of the black man, and the black
man will there be the race predominant in numbers, if not in influence. The
future of Tropical Africa is to be another India ; not another Australia. The
white man cannot permanently colonise Central Africa ; he can only settle on a
few favoured tracts, as he would do in the North of India. Yet Central Africa
possesses boundless resources in the way of commerce, as it is extremely rich
in natural products, — animal, vegetable and mineral. These it will pay the
European to develop and should equally profit the black man to produce.
Untaught by the European he was living like an animal, miserably poor in the
midst of boundless wealth. Taught by the European he will be able to develop
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 183
this wealth and bring it to the market, and the European on the other hand
will be enriched by this enterprise. But Central Africa is probably as remote
from self government or representative institutions as is the case with India.
It can only be administered under the benevolent despotism of the Imperial
Government, though in the future and developed administration there is no
reason to suppose that black men may not serve as officials in common with
white men and with yellow men, just as there are Negro officials in the adminis-
tration of the West African colonies, and Malay officials in the Government of
the Straits Settlements.
It must not be supposed that the Administration of British Central Africa
has always had, or will always command the unhesitating support of the white
settlers now in the country. It sometimes seems to me that the bulk of these
sturdy pioneers (excellent though the results of their work have been in develop-
ing the resources of the country) would, if allowed to govern this land in their
own way, use their power too selfishly in the interests of the white man. This
I find to be the tendency everywhere where the governing white men are not
wholly disinterested, are not, that is to say, paid to see fair play. From time to
time a planter rises up to object to the natives being allowed to plant coffee, in
case they should come into competition with him, or urges the Administration
to use its power despotically to compel a black man to work for wages whether
he will or not.
The ideal of the average European trader and planter in Tropical Africa
would be a country where the black millions toil unremittingly for the benefit of
the white man. They would see that the negroes were well fed and not treated
with harshness, but anything like free will as to whether they went to work
or not, or any attempt at competing with the white man as regards education or
skilled labour would not be tolerated.
As a set off against this extreme is the almost equally unreasonable opinion
entertained by the missionaries of a now fast-disappearing type, that Tropical
Africa was to be developed with English money and at the cost of English
lives, solely and only for the benefit of the black man, who, as in many mission
stations, was to lead an agreeably idle life, receiving food and clothes gratis, and
not being required to do much in exchange but make a more or less hypocritical
profession of Christianity. This mawkish sentiment, however, no longer holds
the field, and there is scarcely a mission in Nyasaland which does not inculcate
among its pupils the stem necessity of work in all sections of humanity. The
great service that Christian missions have rendered to Africa has been to act as
the counterpoise to the possibly selfish policy of the irresponsible white pioneer,
in whose eyes the native was merely a chattel, a more or less useful animal,
but with no rights and very little feeling.
It is the mission of an impartial administration to adopt a mean course
between the extreme of sentiment and the extreme of selfishness. It must
realise that but for the enterprise and capital of these much-criticised, rough
and ready pioneers Central Africa would be of no value and the natives
would receive no payment for the products of their land, would, in fact,
relapse into their almost ape-like existence of fighting, feeding and breeding.
Therefore due encouragement must be shown to European planters, traders
and miners, whose presence in the country is the figure before the ciphers.
Yet, it must be borne in mind that the negro is a man, with a man's rights ;
above all, that he was the owner of the country before we came, and deserves,
nay, is entitled to, a share in the land, commensurate with his needs and
1 84
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
numbers ; that in numbers he will always exceed the white man, while
he may some day come to rival him in intelligence ; and that finally if we
do not use our power to govern him with absolute justice the time will
come sooner or later when he will rise against us and expel us as the
Egyptian officials were expelled from the Sudan.
APPENDIX I.
BILIOUS HiEMOGLOBINURIC : OR, BLACK -WATER FEVER
BY DR. D. KERR CROSS, M.B.
This form of fever has been met with in the Mauritius, Senegal, Madagascar, the
Gold Coast, French Guiana, Venezuela, in some parts of Central America, and the West
India Islands. It is even said to have been seen in some parts of Italy and Spain. It
has been carefully studied in Nosi-b^, on the north-west of Madagascar, where it is
estimated that one in fourteen of the Malarial Fevers treated there were Haemoglobinuric.
Some cases observed in Rome have been carefully studied, with the result that some are
associated with the Plasmodium Malaria— \hQ Bacterium in Malarial Fever — while others
are not. The same has been the case on the Gold Coast. The generally accepted
opinion is that Haemoglobinuric fever may arise apart from any malarial affection.
Any bacterium which destroys the Red Blood Corpuscles and sets free the red colouring
matter — Haemoglobin — will bring about this form of fever. Haemoglobin is an irritant
to the kidneys, and brings on a congested state of that organ. In this form of fever we
always find the kidneys abnormal both in size and in weight, while there is a bleeding into
the tissue under the capsule and in the interstitial cortical substance, or with the discolora-
tion which we know to result from these conditions. The Epithelia lining the convo-
luted tubes of the kidney are lai^er than normal and are cloudy, while the tubes
themselves contain casts that are stained yellow ; this yellow staining being in a very
fine state of division or, in some cases, in large granules. There is a marked obstruction
of the tubules of the kidney, both in the cortical and pyramidal portion. The blood
vessels and capillaries are often found to contain corpuscles that are deeply stained. This
is also the case with the glomeruli of the organ. The serum of the blood contains great
quantities of free haemoglobin which gives it a yellow colour. This yellow colour is
seen in the serum obtained from the application of a blister to the surface and in blood
drawn for microscopic purposes.
This form of fever begins as a regular remittent. There is usually severe vomiting of
bilious matter — indeed, my experience is that in a severe case there is vomiting every
half-hour night and day. There are bilious stools of a frothy yellow substance. • There
is very marked jaundice over the whole body. There is delirium of a violent form.
Sometimes there is a free discharge of black urine or, it may be, of actual blood.
Towards the close of a fatal case there is suppression of the urine resulting in coma and
convulsions. Everything in this affection points to the wholesale destruction of the
Red Blood Corpuscles, and to a desperate eflbrt on the part of the system to throw
something off. From the suddenness with which the tissues of the whole body become
yellow, we might say that every tissue takes on itself the power of secreting bile. Bile is
eliminated by the bowels, by the skin, by the kidneys, and by the liver. The patient
vomits, purges, sweats, and in some cases bleeds. The gums, it may be, become spongy
and sore, and may even shed blood. There may be bleeding from the mouth and nose
and over purple spots on the skin. As in the case of yellow fever, there may be a
APPENDICES iSs
bleeding from the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, which, acted on by
the digestive fluids, may lead to a Black Vomit. A marked feature, too, in some cases
is that the attacks are paroxysmal. They come on with a shivering fit, with pains in the
back, retention of the testes, vomiting, and lowered temperature. Two hours afterwards,
when the urine is passed, it is bloody, contains albumin, and deposits a thick sediment.
The dark urine may continue to be passed for three or four days, but in other cases after
a few hours there is a return to the normal state. I have known of seizures to come on
every morning about eight o'clock for ten or twelve days in succession. Gradually, how-
ever, they seemed to diminish in severity, and then to pass off. Between the attacks the
urine seemed perfectly normal.
There is another form where we get actual blood in the urine. The blood is
intimately mixed with the urine, and is like " porter.'*
Then we may get actual suppression of urine. The malarial poison acts on the
kidneys like a poison. The result of this suppression is uraemic poisoning.
It seems to be the case that certain constitutions have a predisposition to this form of
fever. There are many who have resided in British Central Africa for ten or more years
who have not once suffered from its effects, while others have not been resident as many
months, and have suffered from several attacks. It is not the case that quinine taken in
prophylactic doses every day arms the constitution against it. For myself personally I take
this drug only when I think I need it, and not as a preventative medicine ; and while I
have suffered from ordinary fever I have not once in eleven years had the more serious
affection. This also seems to be an accepted fact : one attack of black -water fever
predisposes to another, so that eventually every attack of malarial fever will take this
form. I think this explains the fact of one European at the north of Lake Nyasa having
had ten consecutive attacks in a period of three years.
From the suddenness of its onset and the equal suddenness of its disappearance,
together with its remarkable tendency in some cases to come on in paroxysms, I think
that the explanation is to be found in the study of the neurotic supply of the kidney.
It is remarkable, too, that women and weakly persons are seldom affected. It seems
to be confined to young, healthy individuals, in whom there is great muscular waste. It
comes on, too, after a long spell of the most robust health, and that with great sudden-
ness. I think, too, that it is a disease of mountainous regions. It does occur in the
lower parts, but my observation leads me to affirm that it is more prevalent in hilly
districts in the centre of malarious regions.
APPENDIX II.
HINTS AS TO OUTFIT FOR BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
I. Flannel is a great mistake unless it is mixed with a large proportion of silk. Pure
flannel is an abomination in the tropics. Either on account of some inherent property of
the wool, or probably of some chemical compound with which it is prepared, the action
of perspiration on the flannel in a tropical country is to at once create a most offensive
smell, even in persons who are constantly changing their clothes, and who attend to
personal cleanliness. Moreover, no flannel yet invented (all advertisements on the
subject are to be absolutely disbelieved) ever failed to shrink into unwearableness after,
at most, the third washing. Again, the feel of the flannel on the skin in a warm climate
is singularly irritating and hurtful. Persons going to Africa are strongly advised to
wear not flannel, but either silk and wool underclothing, or merino. Merino is excellent.
It is cleanly, absolutely odourless, stands any amount of washing, and is pleasant in
contact with the skin. Under almost all circumstances save those where the temperature
rises above loo degrees in the shade, a merino under-garment should always be worn
\yb
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
" Continuing along the straight road, and leaving the Government buildings to the
right, you cross the Mudi stream by a fine bridge,^ built by the African Lakes Company.
On the other side of the Mudi one is on the property of the African Lakes Company
which is a large suburb, called Mandala, on rising ground, from which a fine view can be
obtained of the Mission settlement. At Mandala there are many houses and stores and
workshops and stables — all very
neatly made of brick, with iron roofs.
There are handsome roads and
gardens and a perfect forest of
eucalyptus. The company has ex-
tensive nurseries there which extend
down to the banks of the Mudi, and
has had the good taste to preserve
a bit of the old forest which covered
the site of Blantyre when the
missionaries first arrived. This
forest chiefly consisted of a species
of acacia tree which has dense dark
green foliage in flat layers giving to
it at a distance almost the appear
ance of a cedar. Beyond Mandala
one joins the main road to Katunga,
and the scenery becomes absolutely
beautiful as you mount up towards
the shoulder of Soche mountain.
Here in all directions there is a
beautiful forest, and the views in
the direction of the Shire river
might vie with the average pretty
scenery of any countr)'. There are
still numbers of coffee plantations
on the outskirts of Blantyre, though
the tendency of the planters would
naturally be to keep their future
plantations farther away from the
vicinity of the town. The natives of
Blantyre are a rather heterogeneous
lot. The foundation of the stock
is of Mang'anja race, crossed with
Yao, who invaded the country some years ago ; but for many years refugees from other
parts of the Protectorate have been gathering round the Mission station, the Lakes
Company, Sharrer's Traffic Company, and other large employers of labour, all of whom
have brought men down from the lakes and up from the Zambezi, who have gradually
made their permanent homes at Blantyre. Morality is very low, and although they are
not strikingly dishonest still they are not above petty pilfering, and the coffee plantations
which are too near the town are apt to have their berries picked by the black Blantyre
citizens at night, and the coffee thus acquired is sent out and sold to native planters —
for some of the educated natives and small chiefs have started coffee plantations.
"Unfortunately, the water supply here is very bad, though a little energy would set
it all right. There is the Mudi stream, for instance, which flows perennially without much
diminution, even in the dry season ; but the upper waters of the Mudi flow through
native villages and the settlements of the missionary scholars, and all these people wash
their clothes and persons in the river, besides emptying into it all kinds of filth. The
* The Mudi is crossed higher \x\i by another bridge which the Administration has just made. — H. H. J.
EUCALYFI'US AVENUE, ZOMBA
THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
177
result is that its waters are quite unfit for drinking purposes. A few of the settlers have
wells, but all of these except two seem to produce slightly brackish unwholesome water.
Away to the north of Blantyre arises another very fine stream, the Likubula. This is
rather too much below the level of Blantyre to make it easy to convey the water to the
township. The simplest expedient would seem to be the purification of the Mudi.
** But if the Mudi be at present unwholesome its banks are charming for the foliage
of the trees and the loveliness of the wild flowers. I would notice specially one crimson
lily which gives a succession of flowers for many months of the year.
** And yet how extraordinary people are in regard to wild flowers ! I remember when
I had just been admiring these red lilies on the Mudi's banks I went to dinner with one
of the married couples in Blantyre, and the lady of the house apologised to me for the
bareness of the table, complaining that her garden as yet produced no flowers. Yet she
had only got to send one of the servants out to the banks of the stream and to the
adjoining fields and she could have decked her table with red lilies, mauve, orange, and
white ground-orchids, and blue bean flowers in a way which would excite anyone's envy
at home.
" My reference to * married couples * reminds me to tell you that a good many of
the men settled here are married and their wives seem to stand the climate as well
as if not even better than their husbands, because, I imagine, they are exposed less to the
sun and do not have so much outdoor work. Although it is not consistent with the
duties of the planter still it is borne in on my mind that the healthiest life in Central
Africa is an indoor life. People who keep very much to the house and do not go out
or go far afield between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. never seem to get fever. At the same time
you should not remain out after sunset as you are apt to get a chill.
I do not know whether in the foregoing extracts from supposititious
letters I have succeeded in giving a fairly correct idea of the life that Europeans
lead under present conditions in British Central Africa. More will be said
on this subject in dealing with the Missionaries.
For the trader and the planter I think it may
be said that the country offers sufficiently sure and
rapid profits for their enterprise to compensate the
risk run in the matter of health. The various
trading companies in the country appear to be
doing well with an ever-extending business and
to be constantly increasing the number of their
establishments. Even traders in a small way, if
they have energy and astuteness, may reap con-
siderable earnings with relatively small outlay.
One man, for instance, went up to Kotakota on
Lake Nyasa with a few hundreds of pounds at his
disposal, bought a large number of cattle at a
very low price in the Marimba district and pur-
chased all the ivory the Arabs at Kotakota had
to dispose of, and on his total transaction made a
clear profit of ;^20CX) by selling the cattle and
ivory at Blantyre ; but it appears to me that as
time goes on the European trading community
will be limited to the employes of two or three
great trading companies commanding considerable capital, and to a number
of British Indians who will not in any way conflict with the commerce of the
Europeans because they will often act as the middlemen buying up small
12
1 88 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Other not, so that in the left barrel bullet cartridges can, if necessary, be used, as
sometimes when one is out after guinea-fowl, one might meet a lion or an antelope.
The best kinds of shot are Swan shot ; ** A. A.A. ** ; No. i ; No. 2 ; and No. 5. No. 5 is
useful for pigeons and similar birds; as a rule however most African birds that the
average man wants to shoot will succumb to little less in size than the No. 2 shot. It will
be found that duck require either No. 2 or A.A.A., and Swan shot is useful for very big
water birds or small mammals. For the average individual the best rifle is the '450 single
barrelled. Some people speak highly of the Lee-Metford, but though very deadly if
the bullet comes in contact with the bone, its cartridge does not seem to have the same
stopping effect where it merely pierces through the fleshy parts. A Martini-Henry is a
very useful weapon. Elephant rifles are quite a special subject in themselves and the
enquirer is referred to the various articles which have appeared on the subject in the Fields
or have been written by Mr. Selous and other authorities. The revolver is not, as a rule,
a very useful weapon, except for accidentally shooting oneself.
7. Plenty of books should be taken for reading. The traveller will miss books
terribly if he is much alone in the evenings. Messrs. Mudie sell at a very cheap rate
library books that have been some three months in circulation and all the great pub-
lishers nowadays issue cheap " Colonial " editions of all new and striking books. Maps
of B. C. A. can be obtained from Mr. J. G. Bartholomew, Edinburgh, and Messrs.
Stanford, Cockspur Street, Charing Cross.
8. Boxes. — No leather portmanteaus or wooden boxes should be taken, as they are
liable to the attacks of white ants, and also suffer from the damp climate. All boxes
should be of tin. The Army and Navy Stores and Messrs. Silver thoroughly understand
the kind wanted. No boxes should be large and no packages should weigh more than
55 lbs. on account of the porterage on men's heads. The leather valise or dressing bag
is useful and permissible. One or more rugs should certainly be taken, and a thoroughly
waterproof " hold-all " is a very useful thing. Beds and tents are best obtained locally,
as the right kinds are for sale at the various stores ; but if it is desired to take one's own
tent out then Messrs. Benjamin Edgington, of London Bridge, know exactly what is
required for Central Africa, and can be thoroughly depended upon. The same firm
supplies excellent camp furniture. I especially recommend their folding camp tables.
A good dispatch-box is very useful, and Messrs. Silver, of Comhill, supply very good
articles of this description.
8. Sketching materials. — If the traveller intends to sketch or to photograph he should
get his materials in London, as they are amongst the few things that cannot be purchased
in British Central Africa. As regards sketching materials, Messrs. Kemp and Co., near
Victoria Station, S.W., have for a long time past been in the habit of supplying me with
what is required for Africa, and thoroughly understand the subject ; and their materials
have always proved to be suited to the exigencies of the climate.
9. Provisions of all kinds are much better purchased at the stores in British Central
Africa ; almost the same may be said for drugs, but a small private medicine chest is not
a bad thing, and can be procured from Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome, of Holborn.
I think this constitutes almost all the things which the average traveller should
burden himself with before leaving England for British Central Africa. It must be
remembered that the better extreme to go to of the two is to buy too little rather than
too much, as many more things can be procured locally than one would generally
suppose, and the prices at the stores in British Central Africa, compared to Matabeleland
and the inner parts of South Africa, are very reasonable, on account of the cheapness
of transport and the low Customs duties. Moreover it is not until a man is already
established in Central Africa that he realises his own wants. He is then able to write
home and order such things as he specially requires.
m. ;,&■
/^
mmmm
CHAPTER VII.
MISSIONARIES.
THERE are at present eight Missionary Societies at work in the eastern
half of British Central Africa^ :—
I. The Universities Mission, which is Anglican, occupies the eastern
shore of Lake Nyasa, the islands of Likoma and Chisumula, and has a station
at Fort Johnston at the south end of the lake. The same mission is also
strongly established at Kotakota in the Marimba district on the south-west
coast of Lake Nyasa. They are probably about to build a large station at or
near Fort Mangoche in Zarafi's country. Outside British territory they have
(besides their stations in Eastern Africa) an establishment on the plateau of
Unango in Portuguese Nyasaland. This mission is presided over by Dr. Hine,
Bishop of Likoma.
2. The Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland occupies the
western and north-western parts of the Protectorate.
3. The Church of Scotland East African Mission, better known perhaps as
the " Blantyre Mission," has stations in the Shire Highlands.
4. The London Missionary Society (Independents or Wesleyans) has been
long established on Lake Tanganyika. Its settlements are now confined to the
British coast of that lake and to the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau southwards, but
I believe they will be opening shortly a station on Lake Mweru.
5. The Algerian Mission of the White Fathers (Roman Catholic), besides
being represented by many stations on German or Belgian territory in the
Tanganyika district, has recently established itself on the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau and at one or two places in the Luemba country in the valley of the
Chambezi.
6. The Dutch Reformed Church Mission (Dutch Calvinists), originally a
branch of the Livingstonia Mission, has been established for some years in
Central and Southern Angoniland.
7. The Zambezi Industrial Mission (Undenominational) works in Southern
Angoniland in the Shire province.
8. The Nyasa Baptist Industrial Mission (Baptist) has stations in the
Blantyre district.
In addition to this might almost be included the Jesuit Mission on the
Zambezi, which was until recently established in the eastern part of the Mlanje
district. Their stations were attacked and destroyed by the Yao chief,
Matipwiri, who was subsequently punished for this action by the Administration,
and is now exiled to Port Herald on the Lower Shire. It is therefore expected
that the Jesuit Missionaries on the Zambezi will recommence their work in the
south-eastern portion of the British Central Africa Protectorate.
* For Map showing Mission Stations see page 392.
189
I90 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The enumeration of the Missionary Societies at work in the whole of British
Central Africa might be completed by citing the Jesuits on the Central Zambezi,
and the French Evangelical Mission which has been so long and successfully at
work in the Barutse country on the Upper Zambezi.
A Missionary Society originally founded by F. S. Arnot (Plymouth Brethren)
has been for some years past established in Katanga, in the south part of the
Congo Free State. This mission, I believe, contemplates founding stations on
Lake Mweru within British territory, and I believe it has three stations on or
near the River Kafue in Eastern Barutseland.
The past history of the more important and longest established Missions has
been touched on in the general review of the history of British Central Africa,
Further details concerning the number of their stations, the attendances at their
schools and churches and other technical information is given in my report to
the Foreign Office, "Africa No. 5, 1896," and it would be tedious to repeat the
statistics here. I will confine myself in the present chapter to treating all
missionary work in this part of Central Africa in a more generalised manner,
giving my impres§ipns as the opinions of any ordinary, fair-minded individual
who wishes to arrive at true conclusions uninfluenced by sentiment or
prejudice.
No person who desires to make a truthful statement would deny the great
good effected by missionary enterprise in Central Africa. Yet why is it that in
some quarters missionaries are heartily disliked, and the benefit of their work
is denied or depreciated, even occasionally by clerics who, from a religious point
of view, should be their natural supporters? If, on the one hand, the impartial
observer must pronounce a verdict regarding the value of missionary work in
Central Africa which is almost wholly in its favour, on the other hand he is
compelled to ackowledge the existence of the prejudice and dislike with which
missionaries are regarded by other white men not following the same career.
The causes of this feeling in my opinion are two — (1) The Cant which by
some unaccountable fatality seems to be inseparably connected with missionary
work, and (2) the arrogant demeanour often assumed by missionaries towards
men who are not of their manner of thought and practice, though not necessarily
men of evil life.
I think these two causes exist still, and were so prominent in past times that
they are quite sufficient to account for what is really a long continued and
unreasonable aspersion of the value of missionary work. It will be seen from
the tenour of my remarks that I am striving to write on this difficult question
from the point of view of an absolutely impartial outsider — let us say, for
a moment, from the point of view of one who might be of any religion, or none
at all. I take up this position because I honestly believe that much of the work
done by European missionaries in Africa is of a kind which can be appreciated
and praised without reserve by any fair-minded Muslim, Hindu, or Agnostic.
Any thoughtful cultured man of no matter what religion, who is alive to
the interests of humanity in general, must after careful examination of their
work accord this meed of praise to the results which have followed the attempts
to evangelise Central Africa.
Let us take into consideration the first count of the indictment against
missionaries : Cant. Although matters have much improved under this heading
since the " forties," when Cant reached an appalling pitch, and accounts weie
written of missionary work which are cLlmost too repulsive for modem
taste on that account (driving even sincere Christians into ribaldry and
MISSIONARIES
191
parody, as a natural relief), cant still exists, as can be seen by anyone
who reads most missionary journals and hears many missionaries discourse.
It exists ordinarily amongst the rawest and newest of missionaries and in
the youngest of the missionary societies. In such missions as those of
the Universities, the Church of Scotland and the Livingstonia Free Church,
cant is extinct to a great extent locally, though it still lingers in the home
compilations, in the journals which professedly give an account of the work of
these establishments and which are published for home consumption. Sincere
friends of mission work, such
as Robert Needham Cust and
Canon Isaac Taylor, have at
times expressed their wonder-
ment that missionaries should
think it right or necessary to
attach to descriptions of their
work given verbally or in writing
such expressions of mawkish
piety, and so many statements
which are an insidious perversion
of the truth. In the latter case
I can only imagine it is done on
the assumption once attributed
to the Jesuits, that it is right to
do evil that good may come:
that the missionaries are as con-
vinced as I am of the ultimate
good they effect, and that to
encourage the British public to
find funds for the carrying on of
such work they think it excus-
able or even lawful to "gammon"
them, if I may put it vulgarly,
to repeat speeches of high-flown
piety, on the part of savage and
uncultured converts, which could
not have been uttered with
serious consciousness of their
meaning, and, indeed, could
never have been formulated
from such poor arrested brains.
Then again — especially in the case of newly-formed missionary societies
who, in the rush of unreasoning enthusiasm have embarked on African
evangelisation without counting the cost or making the necessary preparations
— articles too profane to be quoted are written of how God has taken to Himself
" dear Sister So-and-so " or " Brother Somebody-else," to " cherish them on
high" and give them a reward for their labours, as if there had been a
special intervention of providence, when to the outside observer it is obvious
that the sister or brother would never have died or even been ill if he or
she had been properly housed or properly fed. My indictment on this score
is not half strong enough. I kept by me at one time the journals and records
of certain missionary societies, intending to quote them in some such
1. BISHOP HORNBY (FORMERLY OF NVASALAND)
2. THE LATE BISHOP MAPLES, OF LIKOMA
192 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
book as this: a few months ago, however, I tore them up, as they were not
wholesome literature, and perhaps I should have been flogging a dead horse
in laying bare to the public this awful accumulation of Cant, when I knew such
cant to be as strongly condemned as I can condemn it by missionaries of old
standing, and when I began to see so many signs of its rapid disappearance.
Missionary work in British Central Africa, believe me, has only to tell the plain
truth and nothing but the truth to secure sympathy and support Let the
societies cease to humbug the people, let them tell frankly of their trials, their
sorrows, their disappointments, as well as of their successes, and the sympathy
created by the truthful picture which will then be rendered of the great struggle
against spiritual darkness and savagery will be far stronger than the limited
support which is accorded in sectarian circles, when the vulgarest and coarsest
instincts of the unlettered Christian are appealed to by the aid of stupid
falsehoods, lies of that worst kind which are usually founded on a substratum
of truth.
The second complaint against missionaries is on the score of their arrogant
demeanour. Some of the average European pioneers are not, I am sorry to
say, very creditable specimens of mankind. They are aggressively ungodly,
they put no check on their lusts ; released from the restraints of civilisation and
the terror of " what people may say," they are capable of almost any degree of
wickedness ; but the missionary is too apt to assume that all new Europeans
with whom he comes in contact are of this class, and that because they do not
belong to a mission they are necessarily wicked men ; and he shows this so
plainly in his manner that the result is naturally a reciprocal suspicion and
dislike on the part of the stranger layman. There is an undoubted tendency
on the part of missionaries to hold and set forth the opinion that no one ever
did any good in Africa but themselves. That they have done more good than
armies, navies, conferences and treaties have yet done, I am prepared to admit ;
that they have prepared the way for the direct and just rule of European
Powers and for the extension of sound and honest commerce I have frequently
asserted ; but they are themselves to some extent only a passing phase, only
the John-the-Baptists, the forerunners of organized churches and settled social
politics. It is their belief that they hold an always privileged position, that
they are never to fit into their proper places in an organized European com-
munity, which causes so much friction between them and the other European
settlers or lay officials by whom they are gradually being far outnumbered ; nor
are they always ready to recognise that there is some credit due to the
missionaries of commerce as well as to the missionaries of religion ; that the
savage man cannot live decently by faith alone ; that he must have something
to occupy his mind besides religion, and that unless his attention is drawn to
hard work and to gaining money in an honest manner, " Satan will find some
mischief still for his idle hands to do."
Now let me leave off preaching and try to give my readers some idea of
what missionary life is like in Central Africa, always from the point of view
of the lay traveller and dispassionate investigator.^
Try, reader, to imagine yourself in the position of some weary man travelling
in Central Africa on Government business, or as a pioneer trader, or engaged in
^ To do this I find m)rself obliged to quote to some extent from an article on Missionaries which I
wrote for the Nineteenth Century Review of November, 1887, but which, though ten years old, still gives
what I believe to be such a faithful general picture of the average missionary home in Central Africa that
in some passages I find it difficult to describe the same in other language.
MISSIONARIES 193
natural history research, or merely for the sake of exploration or sport. You
have just quitted the slightly civilised coast-belt for the little known and
savage interior, and you may have sickened with the first touch of fever. With
all the enthusiasm for exploration which leads most white men into this un-
healthy but fascinating continent, you feel temporarily depressed and saddened
at the snapping of all ties which bind you to the world of culture and comfort :
your new tent is leaky and lets in the rain, or it fails to mitigate the blazing
heat of noontide; your untried cook cannot at once acquire the art of pro-
ducing a decent meal amid the many difficulties of camp life ; you have long
ceased to eat bread, or the fragments of mouldy toast that may be served up
to you are piteous relics of the pleasant sojourn at some relatively civilised
town on the coast whence you started.
Or, it may be, the circumstances under which you are travelling are
somewhat different. You are at the end of some great journey, some expedi-
tion which has had its moments of exhilarating success, of wonderful discovery,
but now the excitement is over and is succeeded by a dull apathy that is almost
despair: you no longer anticipate with a joy that can scarcely be outwardly
repressed the pleasures which are about to reward your months of toil, privation
and danger — the first night's sleep in a comfortable and spacious bed, the
first well-cooked meal into which you will crowd all your favourite delicacies,
the first good concert or theatre you will attend ; you are weary of running
over in your mind the public dinners that may be given to you or the praises
of scientific societies which will reward your discoveries ; you merely confine
yourself to reflecting dully on the probabilities of reaching your destination
alive and of doubting whether under any circumstances, and especially the
present ones, life is worth living. In either case, whether your work lies
behind you, finished, or before you, to be accomplished, you jog along the
narrow winding path, tired, alone, heart-sick, home-sick, your sore and weary
feet tripping over stocks and stones, your aching eyes fixed on the ground,
seeing nothing, your face scorched with the hot wind, your hands scratched
with the grass blades that have to be continually pushed aside in your dogged
progress. Perhaps even you may be enduring worse discomfort, you may be
drenched to the skin — macintosh notwithstanding — in some torrential downpour;
and overweighted with your heavy, streaming rain-coat, you stagger along half
blindly through slushy mud and soaked vegetation. Then you hear your guide
saying to someone that he recognises the district, that the white man's house is
near at hand. "What white man?" you ask apathetically, too weary to show
an interest in anything. " People of the Mission," the guide replies, and then
if you only know of this modern type of evangelist by tradition you will smile
bitterly and say to yourself, " Oh, a missionary ! H'm, I don't feel much in
a mood to pray or sing hymns just now ! " Then you continue plodding on
in stupid resignation to whatever fate awaits you.
I will suppose, to make this picture more effective, that it is now late
afternoon. The sun — if it is the sun that has chiefly troubled you during
the day's march — is at last sinking behind an imposing clump of forest trees,
and the fierce heat of noon is beginning to be tempered by the rising breeze.
Or the murky rain clouds are drifting away in ragged, piled up masses to
the east, leaving a large space of the western heavens clear ; and this expanse
of open sky has become a pale lemon-yellow through the diffused misty glory
of the declining sun. The surrounding country has a more pleasing appear-
ance. Here and there in the distance are bright green and yellow patches
194
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
diversifying the grey scrub and sombre forest, and these clearly indicate the
existence of plantations, while the vicinity of man is proved by occasional
puffs and spirals of blue smoke where the natives are burning weeds. The
path, too, is clearer, wider, and better made ; the obtrusive wayside vegetation
has been checked and no longer impedes your progress. Then you begin to
meet occasional inhabitants of the distant unseen settlements— women with
babies slung on their backs and earthen pitchers poised on their heads on
their way to the spring to obtain their evening supply of water; or men
returning from the chase armed with long- barrelled ancient -looking guns,
spears, assegais, or clubs, and accompanied by several snarling curs, whose
collars are hung with little bells. To your surprise, instead of plunging
terror stricken into the bush or assuming a defiant and hostile attitude, each
native greets you politely with
" Morning ! Goo* morning ! *' for
they have learned from the mis-
sionaries our matutinal salutation,
which they indifferently make use
of at all hours of the day and
night. On each side of the widened
road a straggling row of young
plantain trees begins to make its
appearance, evidently planted with
the view of its forming ultimately
a shady avenue: then behind a
wooden fence appear thriving
plantations of vegetables and
hedges of pine-apples, and at last,
a turn in the road brings into
view a garden of flowers and
flowering shrubs — blazing with
brilliant masses of colour — and a long, low-built dwelling house of one storey,
with white-washed walls, green window shutters, and a wide overhanging roof
of thatch forming a verandah round the building. Behind the house are other
dwellings of a humbler architecture, more or less hidden with green shrubs
and trees ; and further in the background is a huge barn-like building, also
white-washed and with a thatched roof, but having about it an indefinably
ecclesiastical air, and this .is certain to be a church, possibly used as a school
also during the week.
As you are toiling up the red path towards the house, taking in all these
details with slow and tired comprehension, there comes towards you, half
striding, half running, a white man whose outward presentment is something
like the building you have taken for a chapel — a sort of compromise between
homely rusticity and ecclesiastical primness. Probably he wears a large
soft, grey felt hat with a broad brim, a crumpled white tie, a long grey
clerical coat, cut close up to the neck, grey breeches and gaiters, and heavy
boots. His face has homely features, but it is pleasantly lit up with an
expression of hearty kindliness.
Behind your new acquaintance — who has introduced himself to you as
the agent of some well-known British Protestant mission — follow half-a-dozen
loutish boys, mostly clad in gay coloured jerseys or shirts, with Manchester
cottons round their lower limbs, one or two more favoured ones being
NATIVE CHURCH AT MSUMBA, LAKE NYASA
(t'NIVEKSlTIES mission)
MISSIONARIES 195
hideously clothed in coats and trousers. These lads have lost the easy-
carriage and independent bearing of the unsophisticated native, and shuffle
and slouch along in a lazy, loose-jointed manner that is a distinct irritation
to a person of energetic, active temperament, and their semi-circular grin as
they lounge up to you with a loud greeting produces on your part an
involuntary frown rather than an answering smile. In a half-hearted manner
they relieve your foremost porters of their burdens, and the straggling
procession proceeds on its way up the red clay path and through the flower
garden towards the house. It is probable that at the head of the steps
leading to the raised verandah, the missionary's wife awaits you, clasping and
unclasping her hands, and letting her smile wax and wane as your slow
approach through the garden gives her a slightly nervoqs feeling of conscious
expectancy. Involuntarily her hand goes to her throat — yes ! the gold locket
is there ; she has not forgotten it. She glances at the little bouquet of
flowers in her bosom — how quickly they are fading in the hot air! She
smoothes the crumpled pale blue ribbons that give her homely dress an
almost pathetic remembrance of former smartness, and pulls out the sleeve
puff's ; touches her hair to ascertain its smoothness ; shakes out the limp
folds of her skirt ; clears her throat ; calls up the smile again, now that you
are close, and finally loses all affectation when she takes your hand and
gazes into your pale, tired, spiritless face, and. in a burst of womanly pity
bids you welcome, and hurries away to make arrangements for your comfort.
When you have bathed and changed your clothes, a pleasant languor
succeeds your crushing fatigue. The missionary's wife is busy in her
household, devising additions to the evening meal ; the missionary has
excused himself, and is gone to wind up the school affairs, and dismiss the
scholars from the chapel. You are left for a short time in not unwelcome
solitude. As you sit in the porch, gazing dreamily on the glowing sunset,
and inhaling the strong, sweet, mingled perfume of the nicotianas, frangipanis,
mignonette, and lilies in the garden, your ears catch the shrill, clear voices
of children singing five verses of an evening hymn. Were you with them
in the building, the glib utterance, thin melody, and nasal twang of the
performance would jar upon you ; as it is, here, softened by distance, it
strikes a sweet note in the unruffled harmony of your surroundings. From
the native village, half hidden among the tall umbrageous trees, which stand
out in velvet blackness against the western sky, comes the faint murmur of
voices ; and an occasional laugh of the women and girls, returning with their
pitchers from the water-course, echoes pleasantly through the air. In the
yellow-flowered thorn hedge at the bottom of the garden a bulbul ^ is piping
and warbling his mellow notes. You feel enveloped in an atmosphere of
peace, which is doubly refreshing because of its contrast to the weary tenour
of your past life.
The loud clanging of the school bell disturbs your reverie. The
missionary is once more at your side with many excuses for having for a
brief while left you to your own devices. The evening meal is announced,
and you follow your host to the dining - room, or, rather, the one large
sitting-room of his house. Here his wife, seated at the table before an ample
tea-tray, welcomes you to the repast, and perhaps adds a quite unnecessary
apology for its character. As you unfold your clean napkin, you glance
' Pycnonotus, In parts of the Shire Highlands and other mountainous districts there are thrushes
that sing sweetly.
196 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
over the table and are quite satisfied with your present lot. There is, for
instance, to open the repast, a tureen of good chicken soup ; and a cold pigeon
pie, a rolled tongue, sardines, and boiled ^gs are other items. There
are dishes of home-grown potatoes baked in their skins, and golden slices of
fried plantain. A superb pineapple imparts its fragrance to the mingled
odours of the steaming tea and the savoury broth. Little glass dishes of
luscious jams and sweet biscuits fill up spare gaps in between the pieces de
rhistance, and it is probable that a few bright flowers in a slender vase give
a grace to the outspread meal which clearly indicates feminine supervision.
When your thoughts and your gazi? are wandering thus, you see your hostess
suddenly pause in the tea-outpouring, and lower her head and clasp her hands,
while your host, who has once or twice endeavoured to arrest your attention,
rises somewhat bashfully and pronounces a brief benediction on the repast.
Then, this duty over, he serves and carves and cuts with a will. If you are
a man of any tact, and desire to administer a little harmless flattery to your
kind hosts, you will compliment your hostess on her delicious tea. Then
she will tell you of the difficulties which attend the procuring of fresh milk
in Africa, and of how, in her case, these difficulties have been met and
conquered. She will enumerate her nanny-goats, and describe the vagaries
of her half-wild cow. And you must especially dwell on the excellence
of the cold pigeon-pie. This will no doubt elicit from your hostess the
avowal — with a little blushing — that she herself made it. Her husband shot
the pretty green fruit-pigeons — " poor little things ! it seems a shame, doesn't
it?" — and she made the pie-crust. "You know the native girls can learn to
cook most things, but they never can be taught to make pastry, so I always
go into the kitchen and do that myself."
When the meal is over, you are doubtless made to take the easiest chair,
which is drawn up to the open brick fire-place, where fragrant logs are
burning. You really feel permeated with comfort, while gratitude for the
kindness shown you lends, or ought to lend, a brighter look to your eyes
and a more sympathetic tone to your voice. The missionary's wife has
taken up some needlework to occupy her fingers. Her husband, out of
politeness, is sitting idle with his hands before him, trying to make con-
versation ; but if you question him adroitly, you will soon find out that he
has some hobby that he rides, some favourite pursuit that he follows in his
leisure time. Perhaps it is the study of the native language; and on your
expressing an encouraging interest, he will bring out delightedly his bulky
manuscript vocabularies and chatter to you of prefixes and suffixes and
infixes, of clicks and nasals, guttural - labials, aspirated sibilants, and faucal
sounds — all the cacophony of barbarous tongues. Or you will discover that
his passion is entomology, and a very little persuasion will induce him to
open his boxes and tins, redolent of camphor, and to fetch down from his
study- shelves his spirit -jars, and to display before your somewhat wearied
' gaze a bewildering collection of insect forms — beetles big as mice, and
gorgeously clad in golden-green and chestnut-brown, tiny jewel-like beetles
caught in the calyces of orchids, fantastic longicorns. clumsy scarabs, lovely
chafers, brilliant cantharides, all the coleopterous forms of the surrounding
district. He will recall your wandering attention to a marvellous mantis,
mimicking a large green leaf to perfection, or assuming the form and
appearance of a dry branching twig. He will show you butterflies from the
forest which, when their wings are folded, can scarcely be distinguished
MISSIONARIES 197
from a dead leaf, or other splendid Papilionidce of the tropics not afraid to
exhibit their beauties openly, and revelling in the display of brilliant colours,
attractive markings, and eccentric shapes. Then will follow for your
inspection rows of bugs, scarlet and green, yellow and black ; repulsive
cicadas with huge stupid heads and disgusting fat bodies, giving a nasty
oily odour which even the camphor cannot suppress; dapper-looking grass-
hoppers, neatly and prettily coloured ; and dragon - flies with gauzy wings,
some purple-blue, some orange, others umber-brown or crimson.
If you are not reviewing insects or discussing languages, you may be turning
over portfolios of dried plants; or it is birds that the missionary shoots and
skins, or geological specimens that he collects, or he may even concentrate his
interest exclusively within the narrow domain of spiders or land shells. What-
ever his hobby may be, having once started him off, it is hard to arrest him,
and with the best intentions you find yourself after a little while arduously
acting an interest you cease to feel, and paralysing the muscles of your jaws
with suppressed yawns. The missionary's wife detects your fatigue. Long use
has accustomed her to regard her husband's favourite pursuit with indulgent
unconcern; so rising, and gathering her needlework together, she says, "John,
it is time for prayers; I am sure Mr. So-and-so must be tired." The obedient
husband assents, puts away with a sigh his manuscripts, or his collections, and
goes outside into the verandah, to ring the bell. Then he returns with un visage
de circonstancey gets down his big Bible and seats himself in the armchair at the
head of the table. Presently there is a whispering, giggling, and shuffling in
the passage, and in come the loutish boys you have seen before. They are
lugging along some wooden forms, which they place in the room near the door.
Then they retreat and return again, this time bearing piles of Bibles and paper-
covered hymn-books. They are followed by a small number of lollopy girls,
some clad in loose garments like short nightgowns, a few bearing still an
appearance of being but half reclaimed and in their savage innocence scorning
to hide their virginal breasts in a frowsy gown, while the draping of the light
cottons round their limbs and heads retains an element of innate good taste
which the older, more civilised girls have lost. These latter, too, are oppressed
with a sense of self-consciousness at the sight of a stranger, and alternately
glance at you with sidelong languishing looks, and then make you the subject
of sniggering whispers among themselves, until they are checked by a stern
look from their mistress, which makes their eyes drop with one accord on their
open Bibles. After prayers are over the youths drag out the forms again, the
maidens bob and curtsey, and each with shrill monotony yelps out, " Good night,
ma'am ; good night, sah," to which your host and hostess reply, with wearisome
punctiliousness, " Good night, Amelia, go8d night, Florence, good night,
Susannah, good night, Rebecca," and so on to the end of the list. Then
you stand for a few minutes purposeless, gazing at the prints of Bible subjects
hung round the walls, staring vacantly at your hostess's sewing machine, opening
the gift books on the table or softly trying the harmonium with one finger and
an intermittent pressure on the pedals. The missionary's wife, who has just
been with her servants to ascertain that all your requirements in your bedroom
have been anticipated, returns and bids you good night with a kindly-worded
wish that you may benefit by your night's rest. You chat a few minutes longer
with your host, and then repair to your bedroom, where you will be sure to find
a comfortable bed and a shelf of books, with one of which you beguile the
moments till sleep comes to close your tired eyelids.
198 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Perhaps in the morning you awake ill with threatened fever. Sick, dazed,
and trembling, you attempt to dress, but your host, who is learned in the
treatment of such maladies, insists on your returning to bed where for days
to come you toss and rave, while the vulture Death approaches in ever-narrowing
circles, until by patient nursing, thoughtful care, unwearying attention the
missionary and his wife have conquered the disease and restored you to health.
Or, more probably, the first night's quiet rest under a rain-tight roof, the good
food and cheering kindness of your evening's entertainment at the mission, have
successfully dispelled the incipient malady, and at the clanging of the school-
bell you awake from slumber, to find yourself light-hearted and full of energy,
braced by this little interlude of comfort to face with stout determination the
solitude of the wilderness.
Your host and hostess are loth to part with you, and before you go, you
must in very grace inspect the church or chapel and the schools ; listen while
the school children sing a simple English glee, and " God Save the Queen "; look
over their specimens of hand-writing ; and give them easy problems to solve
in mental arithmetic. You may find it hard to take an interest in or suppress a
repugnance for the hulking youths or plump girls, who instead of being — as they
ought to be — engaged in hard wholesome manual labour, are dawdling and
yawning over slate and primer, and in whose faces sensual desires struggle
for expression with hypocritical sanctimoniousness ; but the little children,
the little, naked, bright-eyed children just captured from the village, and
now demurely ranged in rows, solemnly picking out and wrongly naming
cardboard A's and B*s and C's — you surely can find no difficulty in loving
them, and saying something to encourage the missionary's wife, whose pets
they are? The school inspection over, you yield to very pressing invitations
and stay to an early luncheon, after which your host starts you on the right
road to your next destination, and your hostess slips some dainty package
of eatables into your satchel.
The foregoing sketch illustrates perhaps the commonest type of missionary
household in Central Africa, for the bulk of our missionaries are Protestants and
married. Most missionary societies distinctly encourage their agents to marry and
take their wives out to live with them in Africa. I only know of one Protestant
mission where celibacy is approved. That is the Universities Mission which
is mainly supported by the High Church party in England, and the way
in which its work is carried on is very similar to that of the Roman Catholic
missions. In some respect the system of the Anglicans and Roman Catholics
has much to recommend it. In their establishments there are separate com-
munities of men and women wife lead a life which is monastic only in its
best features, and who not being troubled by any family affairs, can devote
themselves to the work of the mission as long as health permits. But then
it must be remembered that these celibate missions are to some extent served
by picked men and women, who are mostly volunteers and receive no salary
for their services, and are merely lodged and boarded at the expense of the
mission. This system of celibacy undoubtedly does not suit the British
missionary as a rule. Given an average man, young and in the prime of
manhood, who is sent to work in Africa unmarried, unsolaced by the company
of a wife, you will find him prone to be restless and discontented, or to find
a consolation which arouses scandal. Married to a wife of his own nation
and rank his whole career may be different. He is happy, contented, pure-
MISSIONARIES
199
minded, and disposed — from the fact of his having made his home there — to
devote himself to a life-long work in Africa : in fact, a married missionary
becomes more or less a missionary colonist, a result which the parent society
is desirous to attain. Moreover, it is certain that a married man has far more
influence among the natives, for to the African mind celibacy is either an
unnatural or dishonourable condition provoking suspicion or contempt. A
man-missionary, moreover, if he is to avoid the breath of scandal must have
as little to do with the native women-folk as possible. Yet in the interest of
his work it is quite as -perhaps more — important that the women should be
CHURCH OF THE CHURCH OK SCOTLAND MISSION, BI.ANTYRE
instructed as the men. As mothers and wives they wield an influence for
good and bad which it is hard to overrate. From an evangelistic point of
view women are needed for missionaries as well as men. This need is met
in the Roman Catholic Church and in some Anglican missions by the employ-
ment of good women as nuns or teaching sisters, and many of the Protestant
missions often have attached to them unmarried women whose usefulness in
teaching is quite equal to that of the men. But somehow I have noticed
that few of these unrnarried women helpers, if they were of British nationality,
were rigid advocates of celibacy. Sooner or later most of them have found
missionary husbands, or have married Europeans outside the mission. It is
a subject on which I cannot dogmatise, having before my mind's eye many
examples of beautiful, pure, and most useful lives led in Eastern and Central
Africa by devoted women who lived a nun's life and were never married ;
and yet I must own these were the exceptions rather than the rule, and that
200 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
personally I shrink from advocating the sending out to Africa of young
unmarried women. It is far better they should go there, or live there, as
wives. Even in marriage, however, it is not right to conceal the fact that
there are drawbacks to the healthy happy life of the married white woman
in a barbarous country, with a sickly and tropical climate. A blithe pretty
girl from one of the three countries which form the United Kingdom, with
the wild rose bloom on her cheek, arrives in Africa and espouses her missionary
husband ; or, it may be, that they are married in England, and make the
voyage out their honeymoon. Everything in her new life is a shock to her
mental and physical system. The unvarying, enervating heat and the enforced
changes in her mode of dress ; the strange tropical nature, overpowering at
first sight with its luxuriance and its amazing growths ; the different kind of
food, and even the altered manner of passing the hours of daylight ; sometimes,
too, the total absence of any kindred society of her own sex — all these new
experiences, united, form a complete reversal of her previous life, and must at
first react on her physical organisation. Then, too, think of a modest girl
who has been hitherto shielded with such jealous care from contact with
anything coarse or impure, so that she has. in fact, grown up stupidly innocent:
think of her suddenly thrust into a barbarous country where the natives are
naked and not ashamed, and where the conventions of decency are often
unknowingly transgressed by them in a way which to her English pruder>^
must appear very indecent ; where, too, the women among whom she has come
to minister, will, when she understands their language, talk glibly to her of
matters that the most depraved of her sex at home would hesitate to mention
to a young and inexperienced woman. The effect of this ordeal even on a
young wife is not without its risks of moral deterioration, and is sometimes
only acquired at the cost of a certain loss of delicacy.^ This rude contact
with coarse animal natures and their unrestrained display of animal instincts
tends imperceptibly to blunt a modest woman's susceptibilities, and even, in
time, to tinge her own thoughts and language with an unintentional coarseness.
Every year, however, makes it easier for married women to share the lot of
their husbands in countries like British Central Africa, where civilisation is
rapidly increasing and numbers are multiplying. The missionary societies
working here early recognised that it was their bounden duty to supply medical
missionaries to attend to the health of their European agents as well as to the
medical wants of the natives. In consequence of this the missionaries* wives
who have children have not suffered as has been the case in earlier days in
other parts of Africa. Children are frequently born to the married missionaries,
and are reared in the African climate with fair success, and eventually grow up
healthy boys and girls in England. Every year makes it easier for the
missionary to support his wife in Africa with reasonable comfort and chance
of good health. Women, indeed, seem to stand the climate better than men.
Moreover, nowadays, our ideas on the subject of women are widening ; we are
coming to see that many burdens hitherto borne by the male can be equally
supported by the female. On the whole, I think women, make better mission-
aries than men, and are always much more lovable in that aspect. Let them,
therefore, continue to go out to Africa as celibates if they are over thirty-five,
but otherwise as married women.
If the supposititious traveller, whose hypothetical experiences in one type of
* I am writing of course of the average woman, not of exceptional characters who can walk
through any amount of mire and come out unsoiled.
MISSIONARIES 201
missionary household I have already described, should stay at a station of the
Universities Mission in Central Africa or with any of the Roman Catholic
Fathers, he will have very pleasant experiences, though they may be of a
different nature. The good Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, and
the Anglican priests from our two great Universities, will entertain him with a
whole-hearted hospitality, though he will not perhaps enter so much into their
private lives as with the married Protestant missionary. In the case of the
Anglican missionaries he will derive more the impression that he is staying at a
college, a college where there is very plain living and high thinking. With the
Roman Catholics the food is thoroughly good, well cooked and appetising, and
all reproach of luxury removed from it when it is understood that it is almost
all of local production and due to the energy and husbandry of the Fathers
and their pupils. I repeat, there is something very suggestive of the English
public-school about the Anglican missionaries. Athletics bulk largely and
wholesomely in their curriculum. Their boy pupils are soon taught to play
football and cricket, and to use the oar rather than the paddle ; but it cannot
be truthfully said that these missionaries keep a good table or care sufficiently
for their creature comforts. Their houses are often of poor construction, untidy,
and unattractive: it is obvious that they are under no care of womankind.
The missionary snatches his meals hastily, scarcely tasting what goes down his
throat. On his untidy bureau there will be at one and the same time the newest
philosophical treatise from England and an ugly tin teapot of over-stewed tea.
But I shall not continue my criticisms in this respect, as these missionaries are
now much of the same opinion as ipyself on the subject of the sheer necessity
of comfort, if one intends to lead a healthy life in Africa, and I believe
steps are now being taken to supply each University Mission Station with one
or more lay brothers who will attend to household cares.
I have made many allusions to missionary hospitality. Missionaries and the
Portuguese are alike in this respect. As a people the Portuguese are the most
hospitable I know in any part of the globe's surface, showing their hospitality as
a kind of instinct alike to friend and enemy. The missionary, in the same way,
regards hospitality as a sacred duty. No matter whether his guest is disposed
to cavil at his work or to sympathise with it he gives him the best he has, and
often more than he himself can afford ; and too frequently the return both to
the Portuguese settler or official and to the missionary is thankless abuse, or
ridicule, on the part of the passing traveller. I have known explorers who owed
their lives and the success of their journeys and the saving of a vast amount
of expenditure to Portuguese officials, planters or traders, who helped them by
the way. When they returned to Europe, however, it was only to dilate on all
that was defective in the Portuguese system of government, or faulty in the
characteristics of the race. Likewise how many travellers and sportsmen have
lived for weeks light-heartedly at the expense of a missionary or of a series
of missionaries, and then have taken the earliest opportunity of sneering at
them and spreading calumnious reports as to their mode of life. I remember
an instance of this in one who is now dead and therefore shall be nameless.
He had visited the French priests at Bagamoyo, on the East Coast of Africa.
Wishing to do him honour as an explorer and an Englishman, the good Fathers
concerted together, and agreed te sacrifice their last bottle of champagne (kept
as an occasional medicine) in his honour. What was the result ? He returned
to Europe and said, "Those missionaries live like fighting-cocks, they drink
champagne every day."
202 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
How few of the many hundreds who have enjoyed missionary hospitality,
nursing and assistance have remembered that their entertainers were men
receiving salaries from ;^8o to ;f 300 a year, often with a wife and family to
maintain. How many have attempted to make any subsequent return for the
help afforded, not perhaps in monetary or other gifts, but in fair words.
It has been so fine a thing at first to encounter in the wilderness such
disinterested goodness, such heroic attempts in the face of the greatest
difficulties and dreariest discouragements to lead oneself and to teach others
to adopt the higher life, that your first impressions are of unbounded admiration
for the missionaries and their work. If you stay in the country, say three years,
your final verdict is likely to be that of your first impression ; but if you
frequent the mission for merely three weeks you will find yourself beginning
to criticise ; the demeanour of the mission girls has lost all shyness and may
even perhaps be lacking in modesty, for these young women when they get
beyond childhood have lost all fear of the white man and have not been
subjected to the excellent native discipline which enforces amongst the women
a modest bearing and a certain amount of deference towards people of the
.opposite sex. You will, at first, be disagreeably impressed with the native
catechists, or readers, or deacons, or whatever title the trained native adherents
of the mission may bear : with their profuse display of religious phrases, their
clumsily cut European clothes,^ contrasting with an often sensual face, their off-
hand manners and great conceit. But pause a moment before you too hastily
condemn the results of mission teaching. These clothed negroes, whose ver>'
clothing is an offence as it often induces uncleanly personal habits, and a con-
sequent disagreeable personal smell, and whose aping of European ways is a
provocation to criticism, are nevertheless more useful members of the community
than an untutored savage. They may be cheeky if you attempt, as many white
men do, a bullying manner, but they are men of the world. They will not offer
you physical violence nor attempt to oppose your researches into their country ;
on the contrary they will make common cause with you, and espouse your
cause if necessary against their wild brothers. They are now British subjects,
emphatically as much wedded to the British policy with all its mistakes and
even with any temporary injustice it may entail, as you are. Gradually they
or their descendants will find their proper place. When by education and
inherited culture they are on the level of the white man, then by all means let
them take their place as his equal. The British Empire is, or should be,
independent of considerations of race and colour, and should take as its sole
standard of citizenship, mental, moral and physical qualifications. Otherwise
we have no right to interfere with these alien races, and teach them to walk in
our ways, and submit to our rule.
The fact is that it takes at least three generations before any clear apprecia-
tion of the principles of morality, truth, gratitude and honour can penetrate the
intellect and curb the instincts of the negro. Nor in this disadvantage is he
singular amongst the backward races of mankind. The same statement applies
equally to the Red Indian, the Polynesian or the Papuan. You cannot in a year
or two convert a wolf into a sheep dog, or a skulking jackal into a black and
tan terrier ; this change cannot be effected in the one individual, as a rule, no
matter how long he may live ; the result can only be attained by generations
of transmitted culture, induced by constant restraint and careful education.
^ This item of criticism cannot be made to apply to the pupils of the Universities Mission who are very
wisely made to dress in long " kanzus," or garments of Arab style.
MISSIONARIES 203
Even then, when the bulk of your subjects are firmly established in their new
mode of life, and breed true, there will be occasionally disappointing reversions.
A young sheep dog will take to worrying sheep, or a black and tan terrier be
detected killing fowls.^
I know several ordained missionaries who are pure negroes, and who
are most worthy men. Close your eyes and you might be talking to a
cultivated Englishman. But I only recall, at most, three instances of negro
priests of this excellent description who have been, in the one individual,
- raised up from a condition of utter savagery to that of an educated civilised
man, and who have maintained themselves on this high level ; almost all
others having undergone similar experiences relapse at one time or another in
a manner very similar to that described in Grant Allen's striking story, The
Reverend John Creedy. But my hope for the eventual results lies in the know-
ledge of what has been done amongst the negroes of the West Indies. Some
of the best, hardest-working and most satisfactory, sensible missionaries I have
ever known have been West Indians — in colour as dark as the Africans they
go to teach, but in excellence of mind, heart, and brain-capacity, fully equal
to their European colleagues. But then these men were at least three genera-
tions removed from the uncivilised negro, and were as much strangers to Africa
and African habits as the average European. Per contra, what disappointing
results on a surface examination would appear to him who first commenced
studying the effects of mission work in Central Africa. If he has really been
a student of African History, if he has read old Blue-books, old descriptions of
travel, old missionary records, he will have noted that at the end of the
"seventies" or the beginning of the "eighties," the missionaries of the day wrote
with rapture of the remarkable progress in learning and in religion which had
been made by John Makwira, Joseph Evangel, Robert Ntundulima, Simpson
Chokabwino:^ of how John Makwira and Simpson Chokabwino had been
^ As an instance of the disappointing naughtiness which may occur even amongst people who have
lived round the mission station for years, I would tell the following story. While cruising on I^ake
N)rasa in 1895 on one of our gunboats I visited the Island of an important station of the
Mission. We arrived on the Saturday evening, dined with the missionaries and were invited to
hmch with them the next day. Early on Sunday morning a number of youths came off from the shore
in canoes bringing small tins and bottles of milk. I am exceedingly fond of milk and it is not an easy
thing to get in Africa as a rule, I was therefore delighted at the enterprise shown by the natives of .
The Commander of the gunboat accordingly bought up all the milk that was offered for sale and
that morning we feasted on porridge and milk and cafi-au-lait^ and put aside plenty of milk for tea in
the afternoon and puddings in the evening. As it is very difficult ordinarily to obtain milk at all from the
natives in this part of Africa, as the cows and goats are often allowed to run about unmilked, (the
natives not caring for milk themselves) we were full of praise regarding the enterprise of these mission
boys. Later on we appeared at lunch, and the ladies and gentlemen of the mission apologised to us for
handing round tinnea milk, than which nothing becomes more hateful to the resident in Africa, "but,**
said the missionaries **our l)oys you know are very strict Sabbatarians. On Sundays they absolutely
refuse to milk the goats, so we have to go without, though we get plenty of milk on the other days of the
week." I was just going to exclaim ** How extraordinary ! why lots of your boys came off this morning
with Quite a large quantity of milk for sale" when an idea struck the Commander of the vessel and
myself simultaneously and we held our peace. On enquiry we found these youths of Sabbatarian instincts
reserved the Sunday's milk for themselves, and on occasions were very willing to sell it to strangers.
^ The names of course are fictitious but they give some idea of the want of taste too often shown
by the missionaries in naming their converts. This would be very apparent to anybody who takes up one
or other of the missionary journals published in Centra! Africa and reads the list of liaptisms. I quote
haphazard from Life and Work in British Central Africa^ the organ of the Blantyfe Mission for September.
1896, and on the first page amongst the baptisms I find the names of *' Mungo Park Kalima and Tabitha
his wife who have just had a little daughter christened ' Bonnie' ;" and of ** Marcus Aurelius Mbumju."
tither let a European Christian name and surname be given straight away, or keep to the child's existing
name or to any other native appellation and there is nothing to grate on the ear ; but Agnes Tanga-
langa and Dora Chokabwino, Athanasius Ndodo and Wilfred Pujapuja are incongruous, absurd and
distasteful.
204 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
sent to the Lovedale Institute in South Africa, and Robert Ntundulima and
Joseph Evangel to Scotland ; and of the great things which were to be expected
from the raising up of a native Pastorate. Then this student will in the later
" nineties " visit British Central Africa and it will gradually dawn on him that
this disreputable scoundrel, living with and constantly beating four wives, and
so often inebriated with native forms of alcohol that he is continually in the
police courts, is Simpson Chokabwino; or that this lying "capitao" who is
brought before a magistrate charged with defrauding his employer (a coffee
planter) by a forged bill is Joseph Evangel. Perhaps Robert Ntundulima may .
be found to have settled in douce sloth, though still a church goer with one
wife, but with all religious enthusiasm dead and an expensive education wasted
on market gardening.
At the present moment although missionaries have been at work in British
Central Africa since 1875, the numbers of real, sincere, heVievingy professing
Christians amongst their native adherents are relatively small. The Universities
Mission may count 300, the Church of Scotland 400, and the Free Church
Mission 500, because the missionaries themselves are grown far honester than
their predecessors of the ** forties " and " fifties " and are very careful not to
confuse converts with adherents and scholars, therefore in their returns they
only give the actual number of baptised and confirmed Christians, but this
in no way gauges the real results of their work.* Their scholars may be
numbered by the thousand though those scholars, may not be sufficiently
advanced in their religious belief to be baptised ; and their adherents — that
is to say, all the surrounding natives who more or less follow their advice and
are benefited by the example of the mission in striving to live peacefully and
decently — number thousands more. Even if the actual religious results of so
much labour and expenditure of lives and wealth seem inadequate it is
consoling to reflect on the immense service which missionary enterprise has
rendered to Africa and to the world at large. When the history of the great
African states of the future comes to be written, the arrival of the first
missionary will with many of these new nations be the first historical event
in their annals, allowing for the matter of fact and realistic character of
historical analysis in the 21st century. This pioneering propagandist will
nevertheless assume somewhat of the character of a Quetzalcoatl — one of those
strange half-mythical personalities which figure in the legends of old American
empires ; the beneficent being who introduced arts and manufactures, imple-
ments of husbandry, edible fruits, medical drugs, cereals, domestic animals.
To missionaries rather than to traders or government officials many districts
of tropical Africa owe the introduction of the orange, lime, and mango, of
the cocoanut-palm, the cacao-bean and the pine apple. Improved breeds of
poultry and pigeons, many useful vegetables, and beautiful garden flowers have
been and are being taken further and further into the poorly-endowed regions
of barbarous Africa by these emissaries of Christianity. It is they too who
in many cases have first taught the natives carpentry, joinery, masonry,
tailoring, cobbling, engineering, book-keeping, printing, and European cookery ;
to say nothing of reading, writing, arithmetic and a smattering of general
^ In other parts of Africa, principally British possessions, large numbers of nominal Christians exist,
but their religion is discredited by numbering amongst its adherents all the drunkards, liars, rogues, and
unclean livers. Among the natives in or near European settlements in one of the oldest of our West
Afridkn possessions all the unrepentant Magdalenes of the chief city are professing Christians, and I
remember when visiting the place referred to in 1888 seeing a black Messalina going to church in pomp,
clad in a white silk dress and followed by a train of negro admirers.
MISSIONARIES 205
knowledge. Almost invariably it has been to missionaries that the natives
of Interior Africa have owed their first acquaintance with the printing press,
the turning lathe, the mangle, the flat iron, the saw mill, and the brick mould.
Industrial teaching is coming more and more into favour, and its immediate
results in British Central Africa have been most encouraging. Instead of
importing printers, carpenters, store clerks, cooks, telegraphists, gardeners,
natural history collectors from England or India, we are gradually becoming
able to obtain them amongst the natives of the country, who are trained in
the missionaries' schools, and who having been given simple wholesome local
education have not had their heads turned, are not above their station in life,
and consequently do not prove the disastrous failures I have introduced in
my foregoing references to typical individuals sent for their education to South
Africa or the United Kingdom. At the Government press at Zomba there is
but one European superintendent — all the other printers being mission-trained
natives. Most of the telegraph stations are entirely worked by negro telegraph
clerks also derived from the missions. As an instance of the intelligence of
some of these missionary scholars, I have given at the end of the chapter dealing
with the flora of British Central Africa a list and description of the native trees
which is a really remarkable essay sent to me in the native tongue by a
Blantyre scholar.^
Who can say with these facts before them, with the present condition of the
natives in South Africa to consider, with the gradual civilisation of Western
Africa,^ that missionary work has been a failure or anything but a success in the
Dark Continent ?
Is it of no account, do you think, is it productive of no good effect in the
present state of Africa, that certain of our fellow-countrymen — or women —
fX)ssessed of at least an elementary education, and impelled by no greed of gain
or unworthy motive — should voluntarily locate themselves in the wild parts of
this undeveloped quarter of the globe, and, by the very fact that they live in a
European manner, in a house of European style, surrounded by European
implements, products, and adornments, should open the eyes of the brutish
savages to the existence of a higher state of culture, and prepare them for the
approach of civilisation ? I am sure my readers will agree with me that it is as
the preparer of the white man's advent, as the mediator between the barbarian
native and the invading race of rulers, colonists, or traders, that the missionary
earns his chief right to our consideration and support. He constitutes himself
informally the tribune of the weaker race, and though he may sometimes be
open to the charges of indiscretion, exaggeration, and partiality in his support
of his dusky-skinned clients' claims, yet without doubt he has rendered real
services to humanity in drawing extra-colpnial attention to many a cruel abuse
of power, and by checking the ruthless proceedings of the unscrupulous pioneers
of the white invasion.
Indirectly, and almost unintentionally, missionary enterprise has widely
increased the bounds of our knowledge, and has sometimes been the means
1 This essay has been kindly translated for me into English by the Rev. Alexander Hetherwick of the
Church of Scotland Mission, but I understand sufficient of Chinyanja, having the original with me, to
know that the translation though a smooth one imparts no sense into the text which is not to be found in
the original document. To test the intelligence of these scholars of the Blantyre Mission Schools I had
offered a small prize for the best essay on this subject. There were many competitors and some of the
essays were very good besides that one whicli I now publish, and which was adjudged to be the best.
* Where the Basel missionaries have played much the same part as the British missionaries in Nyasa-
land in introducing industrial teaching.
2o6 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
of conferring benefits on science, the value and extent of which itself was
careless to appreciate and compute. Huge is the debt which philologists owe
to the labours of British Missionaries in Africa ! By evangelists of our own
nationality nearly two hundred African languages and dialects have been
illustrated by grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies, and translations of the Bible.
Many of these tongues were on the point of extinction, and have since become
extinct, and we owe our knowledge of them solely to the missionaries* inter-
vention. Zoology, botany, and anthropology, and most of the other branches
of scientific investigation have been enriched by the researches of missionaries,
who have enjoyed unequalled opportunites of collecting in new districts ; while
commerce and colonisation have been so notoriously guided in their extension
by the information derived from patriotic emissaries of Christianity that the
negro potentate was scarcely unjust when he complained that " first came the
missionary, then the merchant, then the Consul, and then the man-of-war."
For missionary enterprise in the future I see a great sphere of usefulness — work
to be done in the service of civilisation which shall rise superior to the mere
inculcation of dogma ; work which shall have for its object the careful educa-
tion and kindly guardianship of struggling, backward peoples ; work which,
in its lasting effects on men's minds, shall be gratefully remembered by the new
races of Africa when the sectarian fervour which prompted it shall long have
been forgotten.
CHAPTER VIII.
BOTANY
THAT botany plays a very important part in British Central Africa north
of the Zambezi will be plain to the most unobservant traveller. It does
not take the first rank in popular interest, as in West Africa, for vegetable
growth is less marvellous and fantastic than in the hot rainy countries along the
West Coast belt and in the Congo Basin. Zoology, perhaps, has the first claim
on the attention of the naturalist in South Central Africa ; still botany comes
in as a good second ; for all this district (as I have incidentally pointed out in a
previous chapter) is a kind of secondary development of the forest region ; it is
207
FLOWERS OF THE CARDENIA TREE
2o8
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
on the whole much more clothed with v^etation than is East Africa, North-
Central or South Africa.
Flowering plants and trees are either much more abundant or, owing to the
less dense vegetation, much more apparent than in West Africa. Perhaps there
are not colour displays quite as gorgeous as the evanescent sheets of bloom to
be met with in Temperate North or South Africa, but then the show of flowers
is not confined to a few weeks in the year, but is pretty constant throughout all
the twelve months. Of course there is a marked bursting into bloom at the
beginning of yearly rains and again in the benign
autumn when the violence of the rainy season . _
is over and yet ihe soil h still moist.
i have not been able
to liiidei^tand (as I have
mentioned in a preced-
ing chapter) wh}- certain
naturalists have spread
abroad the impression
that sinking birds, sweet
smelling flowers and gor-
geous displays of bloom
are practically confined
tc* the temperate regions
and arc not characteristic
♦ 4 the Tropics. No doubt
these impressions were
for Uicu fioiii an exclusive
acquaintance with the
dense forests of Tropical
America and Malaya, where, just as in West Africa, (owing to the pre-
ponderating gloomy forest) there is an immense display of foliage varied
by no more than an occasional flower or spray of blossoms. And however
wonderful the orchids of these regions may be, they rarely grow in suflficient
numbers or near enough to the pur\-iew of the human eye to constitute a
blaze of colour. But no one who has kept his eyes open in the drier regions
of Central Africa can refuse to acknowledge that the flower displap are marked
and ver>' gorgeous, especially in that part of the countr\- which li^ a thousand
feet and more above sea level. In the swamps and on the low-lWng land it is
possible to pass through the country- seeing little sign of any flowers during
certain months of the year ; though here, again, the traveller, to be consistent
LlNSOCHIirs ORCHIDS
BOTANY
209
^ in his declaration that he has seen no flowers, must be very careful not to look
too closely into the details of the landscape or he will falsify his own statement ;
for in the marshes there are blue or white water-lilies ; amongst the high reeds
on the forested banks of the rivers trailing convolvuluses seem to be always in
bloom. The white plumes of the reeds and the efflorescence of many rushes
are often beautiful and form a pleasant feature of the landscape.
But if these low- lying lands are visited in the spring-time the display of
flowers is qu ite as gorgeous
as elsewhere. The acacia
trees are loaded with small
orange-coloured blossoms ;
a creeper (which some-
times grows indepen-
dently as a bush) has all
along the under part of
the stalk a continuous
mass of small crimson
petalless flowers. When
these are fully out and
the branches are twined
round some smaller tree
or trailing on the ground
they are like great wreaths
of crimson. A strange leaf-
less shrub which resem-
bles a miniature baobab
tree, has large blossoms
that are rose-coloured and
white ; every moist glade
teems with Crinum lilies
of the purest white, or
else white with a line of
pink (the scent of their
flowers being almost in-
toxicating when in close
proximity) ; the india-
rubber vines have sweet-
scented, chaste white
blossoms; there are shrubs
allied to the jasmine with flowers like those of that plant ; the Pterocarpus
trees for one fortnight in the spring are loaded with immense masses of yellow
laburnum-like blossom. Other papilionaceous trees of the genus Lonchocarpus
flower profusely and resemble the Wistaria in colour and appearance ; the
Gardenia tree has, as the reader will see by the illustration, large handsome
white flowers which in the centre are touched with pink and orange ; then
there are the various species of Erythrina. One of these, at least, has blossoms
so gorgeous that I should like to get it introduced into cultivation. The
tree belongs to the bean family ; the flowers which grow in large clusters
are vivid crimson-scarlet. It usually has but few leaves on it when it bursts
into bloom. Suddenly meeting with it in the jungle — great crimson splodges
radiating from the gnarled grey trunk — you rub your eyes thinking that it must
14
AN ANGR>ECUM ORCHIS
2IO
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
be some optical delusion. Then there is a mighty tree of the genus Spathodea
(probably S, campanulata). Its flowers again are crimson-scarlet with a curious
velvet hood of even deeper and richer crimson ; and there is the Bombax, whose
flowers also are vivid scarlet-crimson with a mass of dull-black anthers and a
calyx of yellow-green. Both Spathodea and Bonibax are trees of great height
and stateliness. The Bombax is the more effective object because the leaves
are not much out when the flowers burst forth ; and the spectacle is such that
if Linnaeus gave way to tears before a field of gorse, one wonders what he
would have done in full view of a mighty Bombax with its branches hung with
pendant crimson flowers, like innumerable red lamps. Even the baobabs
flowers, though they tarnish quickly, are beautiful for a brief space, while they
retain the creamy white of their petals and the pale gold dazzle of theiV
multitufdinous stamens.
There are many beans of the genus Tephrosia^ growing as creepers or erect
shrubs with flowers usually
a rich purple, but in one ^gPL^^SSS
species ( Tephrosia Vogelii)
with the corolla snow-
white and the calyx, stalks,
and ovaries the deepest
purple. Other bean flowers
{Crotalaria and Eriosema)
are yellow. There are
Hibiscuses, with huge
flowers of lemon -yellow
crimson-centred ; others of
pure white, others of pale
pink.
There are shrubs of
the genus Copaifera whose
flowers have large, crinkly
petals of pure white
^streaked with rose, and a
powerful aromatic scent ; and stragL;linf^
cucurbits with cold -white blossoms and
gaudy -coloured gourds. The Cntstis shrub
exhibits big seed-vessels, several in a clump,
covered with orange or scarlet velvet, through
the valves of which the black -headed beans
protrude. Ground orchids, chiefly of the
genus Lissockilus, grow amicl the grass with
columns of red, mauve, or hulphur-yellnw
flowers. Epiphytic orchids are nut so
common, and are only found in chimps uf
dense forest, where they are chiefly represented by the genera
Ansellia and Angrcecum,
Everywhere in moist places straggles the Camimlina with
its blooms of cobalt -blue, \'eUo\v, or white — flovvers that
wither before the noonday sun, but are lovely in the morning
hours.
This enumeration is wearisome to the eye from the constant
THE ANSELLIA
OR ** tiger" orchis
BOTANY
21 I
citing of Latin names ; but I wish to substantiate my statements regarding
the beauty of the flora by enabling the reader to identify the objects of my
admiration. He should derive from this list the just impression that throughout
at least six months in the year even the low-lying plains of Central Africa are
bright in colour with flowers and fruits ; but
if this is the case with the lowlands what
adjectives can be employed to adequately
picture the flora of the highlands ? One
sw tfeping statement must be made that during
spring-time they are gorgeous with their
flrnrer displays — gorgeous with lakes of azure-
blue and mauve, stretches of pinkish-white,
mounds of rose-tint, columns of purple, sheets
of ultramarine, circles of orange, constellations
f jf jiure white, stains of blood-red, billows of
yellow. Anything more beautiful
than these wild flower gardens in
the country which lies between looo
and 4000 feet in altitude I have
_ never seen. And as I have already
remarked, although in its full efful-
gence during the spring months
(October, November, December) and
in the autumn revival (April, May,
June), yet the flower display in the
uplands maintains itself throughout
the whole year. Why should I
weary the reader further by Homeric
lists of scientific names ? All these
can be found in the Appendix ; and
those inclined to doubt or minimise
my statements may look up the
various genera and species in the
Gardens and at the Herbarium at Kew, and (taking for granted the truth
of my statements that the flowering plants frequently grow in masses which
contribute great effects of unbroken colour) may even without a visit to British
Central Africa become once for all convinced that whatever may be the case
with the gloomy forests of the Amazon or Malay Archipelago, the open,
reasonably-rained-on parts of Tropical Africa are as splendidly endowed with
flower shows as with singing birds. Up in the high mountains this is still more
marked. Here an emotional person would faint away before the rocks hung
with blue lobelias, and the clumps of smalt and cobalt Disa Orchids.^
There is a tree lily ( Vellozia splendens) which in the spring-time bears from
its gouty stems (ordinarily finished by a tuft of grass-like leaves) sprays of
creamy-white blooms, so beautiful that even the botanists of Kew were touched,
and called it " splendens." ^
' Perhaps the loveliest ground orchid in the world — Disa hamatopetala. This is well figured from
our specimens in the Transactions of the Linnaan Society for May, 1894.
'^ Botany should be dealt with by a class of sylphs ; instead of which its priests are often old and
unenthusiastic men. Plod through page after page of botanical description, and where du you find any
hint as a rule of the matchless beauty they should be describing? Little if any mention is made of the
colour of the *' corolla" (as it is correct to call the showy part of the flower), but what the botanist likes to
note with so much satisfaction is that the plant is either glabrous or scabrous, that it is possibly caulescent
A RED LILY
OKOWING IN ALL THE STREAM VALLEYS IN THE SHIRK HIGHLANDS
I
212
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
OIL PALMS, NEAR THE SONGWE RIVER, NORTH NYASA
Then there are the numerous Coreopses (relations of the Sunflower) — golden-
yellow, creamy -white, and blood -red
pinkish -white anemones; purple iris
{An'stea)] rosy-tinted, salmon -tinted,
apricot - tinted gladioli, or even a
gladiolus with huge blossoms of a pale
buff colour like caf^-au-lait. There is
a great range in the colour of these
gladioli. One has a flower of purplish-
green. The Hypericum shrub, like the
St. John's wort in England, has large
pale yellow blossoms. In the stream
valleys there are balsams of pink-
mauve ; by the water side at the
greatest altitudes is the blue Cyno-
glossuniy and there are silver and gold
Helichrysums. And yet I have only
signalised by name a twentieth part of
the flowering plants of these high
mountains in Central Africa.
and that the outer whorl is covered with black emergences. He likes the perianth cup to be short and
fleshy and prefers the anthers to be sessile. Not a single exclamation of praise or prayer at the flower
displayed. Of course he is right : science must be unemotional. A good diawing of this Veiiozia is
given in the Transactions of the Linmcan Society for May, 1894.
A RAPHIA PALM
BOTANY
213
So much for beauty of colour ; now for the beauty of outline. There are
five species of palm abundantly represented in British Central Africa: the
Borassus, the Hyphaene, the Wild date, the Raphia, and the Oil palm.^ The
cocoanut palm grows at one or two places on the Shire River and on Lake
Nyasa, but it is an introduction from the East Coast. The most graceful of
RAPHIA PALM FRUITING
' The oil palm, either the Eiais giiineinsis of West Africa or a nearly-allied species grows in North-
west Nyasaland. It is found chiefly in the very fertile plain lying between the Nkonde mountains and the
Lake shore ; also in the well-watered hill country of the Atonga. So far as I am aware it is not found
further south than the latitude of Bandawe — about the middle of Lake Nyasa— nor does it seem to reach
any part of the east coast of that lake. It may be reported 'eveotually from the Chambezi River which
flows down the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau and becomes the Upper Congo, but it has not been recorded up
to the present. Therefore, after quitting Lake Nyasa and ascending to the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau one
does not encounter the oil palm again until the south shore of Tanganyika is reached. Here there are a
few examples but it is not abundant. On the Upper Luapula, however, Mr. Sharpe found it growing in
ct>n5iderable numbers and apparently identical with the West Coast species ; but this may be the result of
direct introduction by the Alunda — a West African people who make considerable use of its oil for food.
Mr. Whyte and myself have done our be'st to introduce the oil palm into South Nyasaland and the nuts
planted in the Zomba Botanical Gardens have already grown to the height of a couple of feet. Even if
there was no idea of exporting the palm oil and thus competing with West Africa it would be extremely
useful locally for cooking purposes. The illustration I give here is done from a photograph taken of a
clump of oil palms at the north end of Lake Nyasa.
214
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
BORASSUS PALMS
these palms is the Raphia, a species as yet unnamed. The trunk or stem
seldom reaches to any great height above the ground ; it has enormously long
fronds which rise into the air and give the idea of height. The foliage of these
fronds is a glaucous green, but the midrib in the living frond is bright orange.
The seeds are much like the cones of certain
conifers. They are covered with glossy brown
scales and are extremely hard, taking a whole
year to germinate in the ground. This palm
would no doubt produce a wine-like sap, as
is the case with its near congener the Raphia
viyiifera ; but I have not heard of the natives
using it for this purpose in Central Africa.
The midribs of its enormous fronds are of
greatest service to man, being very light,
easily straightened, somewhat uniform in
girth and very strong. The Raphia midribs
at once constitute a light and effective ladder
20 feet long by small rungs being inserted
in the holes made on the leaf-bearing surface of the midrib. This palm also
in the .same manner furnishes rafters for houses. The destruction of it at the
hands of the natives has been somewhat wanton, and we have taken measures
in the more settled districts to protect the Raphia, besides gathering the seeds
and replanting them extensively.
The Borassus flabellifer grows to a great height. Its fronds curl into
a semicircle and make the
familiar palm fan of the East.
The fruit is large — as big as
a child's head — and the husk
is a pale yellowish-green when
ripe. I believe the kernel to
be of little u.se The trunk of
the palm is very good for
certain purpo.ses in building.
The Central African Hy-
phaene is .so similar in appear-
ance to the Bora.ssus that the
one is often mistaken for the
other by the passing traveller.
They are distinguished chiefly
by the difference in their fruit.
The fruit of the Borassus I
have already described. That
of the Hyphaine is much
smaller — the size of a large
egg-shaped Java orange. Its
covering is a rich chestnut-
brown and has a sweetish taste, like gingerbread. The kernel of the nut is white
and extremely hard and can be used as a sort of" vegetable ivory. Innumerable
things are made of the tough and lissom fronds, and the trunk of this palm can
be made very useful in building as it is easily split with wedges into board-like
segments. It takes a beautiful polish, having a very handsome grain.
-r^M^-M^,
WILD DATE PALMS
A REED BRAKE (Phragnutes communis)
BOTANY
217
I have not observed in British Central Africa the curious swelling of the
stem either of the Borassus or Hyphaene which is so noticeable in other parts
of Africa, such as the East Coast or the Congo Basin.
A wild date grows either on high mountain slopes which are well watered
or on the banks of large rivers or the shores of a lake. It is a handsome palm ;
though occasionally when growing to a great height the stem becomes spindly
and has a tendency to curve and lean. The fronds are extremely green and
never have that glaucous tint so characteristic of the date palm. The fruit
when ripe is just eatable. It looks
and tastes like a very poor form
of date.
The cocoanut palm should do
well in the vicinity of all our
lakes and rivers judging by the
examples already growing at
Kotakota and on the Central
Shire. The fruit produced at
Kotakota is excellent.
Handsome Cycads grow on
the lower slopes of Mount Mlanje.
I have not observed them else-
where. Wild bananas {Musa
ensete) grow on the hillsides.
They are really beautiful objects ;
the trunk is much thicker and
the foliage more statuesque and
ample than in the cultivated
species. They would be familiar
objects to Londoners, as allied
forms are planted in the London
parks during the summer.
Although it forms an abomin-
able growth to force one's way
through on account of the stiff
spear-blades, XhePhragtuites reed^
can be an object of great beauty
with its enormous flower-plumes
of grey -white. But the leaves
though not exactly rigid are stiff
and have a sharply-pointed ter-
mination, and these points pierce
the skin if abruptly encountered.
There are innumerable other
grasses, handsome in the outline
of their growth and beautiful in
their flowering. One small, low
grass in the height of the rainy
season spreads the ground with
a fleecy carpet of pale mauve, its
abundant inflorescence being of
^ P. communis. plumes and young shoot of phragmites
2l8
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
that tint. Still the grass of Central Africa is one of its great plagues. Between
the months of November and February there grows up a monstrous herbage
under the influence of the sun and rain. The grass stems will sometimes
reach eight feet in height. Not only do
many of their leaves cut like razors or
stab like spears but in the autumn months
of April and May their seeds ripen and
in some cases seek distribution by methods
painful to the human animal. There is
one especially — a species of Stipa, whose
seeds I here illustrate. As you pass along
a native path which is almost invisible
(for grass growing on either side leaves
nothing but an obscure narrow tunnel),
the seeds of this Stipa easily detach
themselves and descend with a spiral
flight on to your person, the slight im-
petus of their fall carrying the sharp
barbed point of the seed right into the
clothmg ; here the movement of the body
acting on the barbs of the seed works it
farther and farther in, so that it eventually reaches and scratches the skin. There
are cases reported of this Stipa where the seed has actually penetrated the skin
of certain animals. At one time the idea was mooted that the seed germinated
thus in the flesh, but this is not true. It is a mere accident that the barbed
BARBED SEEDS OF STIPA
PAPYRUS
A LARGE DUCKWEED
FOUND ON ALL STAGNANT WATER IN TROPICAL
AFRICA {Pistia stratioUs)
BOTANY
219
grain happens to alight on an animal. What it intends to do is to pitch, point
first, on the ground, which is hardened by the dry weather, and pierce its way
through the soil by the same means that will enable it to pass through a coat
of thick texture. The feathery plume attached to the seed acts as a kind of
float to carry it through the air perpendicularly towards the ground.
There is no lawn grass indigenous to Central Africa, but the Dub grass
of Ceylon has been introduced by Mr. Whyte and the late Mr. John Buchanan,
AN ALBIZZIA TREE
and has thriven wonderfully. With this we can get excellent lawns and very
superior fodder for horses and cattle.
Among rushes there is the king of them, the papyrus. I have referred once
or twice before in this book to its great beauty, and will not weary my readers
by the repetition of my descriptions. The pith of the papyrus which was used
by the Egyptians as a material on which to write, and which has given its name
to " paper," appears to possess a sugary or starchy quality, so that when the
flattened strips of rolled-out pith are moistened the edge of one can be laid on
the edge of the other, and will adhere to it ; and this, I believe, is the way
sheets of paper were made. Why it should not once more be brought into use
as a paper-making material I do not know.
Amongst the graceful types of vegetation mention must no^ be omitted of
220
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the tree ferns on the mountains and the many beautiful ferns to be found in
moist places. The Osmunda grows luxuriantly in the stream valleys, and there
are many varieties of maiden-hair. The dear familiar bracken appears directly
an altitude of 3000 feet is reached, and flourishes thence up to 6000 feet ; in
company with it grows the blackberry bramble, and the two together gladden
the exile's heart like emissaries
from home.
There are many noble forest
trees to be signalised for their
beauty of outline and foliage.
There are the Parinariums,
which tower up a hundred feet
into the air; the velvet -foliaged
Albizzia; the Ebony {Diospyros)\
the Khaya (JC, senegalensis) ; the
Pterocarpus, with its glorious fort-
night of efflorescence, when the
whole tree is a mass of large
yellow flowers, and exhales an
intoxicating odour of honey, at-
tracting thereby thousands of
bees ; and glossy-leaved fig trees
of the genus Ficus} These hand-
some forest trees, however, are
generally restricted to the banks
of rivers or the shores of lakes,
or else to moist mountain slopes.
The bulk of the country is covered
by a forest of thin and poor type: —
chiefly Trachylobiums and Copai-
feras, Hymenocardias, Anonas
and Misuko {Uapaca kirkiana),
besides certain vines of large size
growing in the habit of a shrub,
and acacias which are of various
forms and very little foliage.
Some of these acacia trees are
more clothed when they grow
near water, and the scent of
their flowers is delightful ; but in the form of bushes they are intolerable.
Were it not that the uniform pale green of the trunks and branches of the
better developed acacias and their feathery light-green foliage and orange-
coloured flowerets class them as beautiful, I should have been inclined to put
them in the division of the vicious.
There is malicious vegetation in Africa. There is a small plant — a kind of
asafoetida — which gives forth the most noxious smell of bad drains when it
is trampled on. There are various kinds of arums that give out a sickening
odour; an euphorbia which, when broken, spurts out a poisonous milk, one
^ These are especially beautiful at the north end of Lake Nyasa where they are grown by the natives
for the sake of the shade they give. Their branches have long brown rootlets which gradually reach
to the ground where they make independent growth, as is done by the Banyan tree in India.
THE MUCUNA BEAN
BOTANY
221
drop of which in the eye will bring about severe inflammation ; very thorny
mimosas (sensitive plant); and a horrid little vine^ growing on all cultivated
ground, and springing up from underground tubers which are very difficult
to extirpate. An atrocious pest, the "Spanish needle," has reached this
country. It is found all round the world now in the cultivated regions of
the Tropics. The flower is a poor irregular composite, like a lanky daisy,
with white petals and yellow centre, and seeds that develop at one end
a number of tiny hooks, so that passing through a field where this weed
grows one's trousers bristle with innumerable brown seeds, clinging tightly
to the cloth. A still greater
pest is the Mucuna^ bean, of
which I give an illustration. It
is a creeper that grows over
bushes and trees. The seed pods
are covered with tiny silky hairs
of a reddish - brown. These, if
touched by the skin, cause a
most extraordinary, most extra-
vagant irritation — a sort of nettle
rash. The skin is covered with
large white weals and the irrita-
tion and heat are so bad that
nothing but stripping and rubbing
oneself with a cooling lotion afford
relief This cow itch is of very
subtle dispersal. Clothes which
have been washed are laid out to
dry on bushes, and attract a few
of the hairs off" the seed pods of
the Mucuna, To all appearance
they might have nothing on them
to attract attention, but they are
no sooner worn next the skin than a sensation as of innumerable fleas attacking
one begins to be felt until at last the irritation is unendurable. The cow itch
is a thing which particularly affects old clearings and abandoned plantations,
and therefore grows frequently by the roadside in Central Africa where the
path traverses districts that have been inhabited.
A Smilax yam is a noxious thing, as it twines round the shrubs and plants
and throttles them ; moreover the under side of the stalks are armed with
sharp thorns which tear the skin when one is forcing a way through the bush.
A lily, supposed to be the species which for inadequate reasons was named by
Linnaeus Gloriosa superba, is very poisonous to cattle or horses. But for
this reputation (which is not absolutely proved) it is a pretty thing ; the
flowers develop, as they expand, from yellow-green to brownish-crimson and
the terminations of the leaves are prolonged into fantastic tendrils.
The grotesque in vegetation is well represented. Look at the Baobab tree
without its leaves ! Is it not as though nature had perpetrated a loathsome
jest? Its enormous bulk (they have been measured 80 feet in girth) which
^ This Vitis serpens, as it is called, clambers over and throttles plant after plant. At the same time
when it has reached a fence and spread itself out with its pretty red-currant-like grapes it is very
decorative. ^ Chiieze of many parts of Nyasaland,
BAOBAB TREE
222
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
after all is nothing but soft, fibrous, pithy wood inside the hard rind ; its gouty
limbs springing from the massive trunk and so inadequately fulfilling the
promise of majesty ; and the leprous look of the whole object with its smooth,
shiny, dirty-pink bark make up a total that is wholly
grotesque. The leaves only remain on this tree for
about five months, and even then they are so thinly
scattered as to give no shade. The flowers are hand-
some as they open, but soon tarnish and turn brown,
as though the whole tree were permeated with a sickly-
taint. The seed vessels, shaped like huge bean-pods,
hang perpendicularly from the branches by string-like
stalks and are covered with a thin grey plush. Broken
open they will be found to contain a white pith, yield-
ing a pleasant acid taste, which can be made into a
drink faintly resembling lemonade.
Another grotesque thing is the Euphorbia, which
grows in the plains — a cube- like stem with a few flat
segments branching off it ; or the Candelabra Euphor-
bia found in the low country and on the harsher
uplands. The species of this Euphorbia which grows
in the hills does not reach the same size as the
monster of the plains. It looks, with the blood-red
aloes growing in the same locality, a fit vegetation to
surround the entrance to a witches* cavern. The
subsidiary branches are like innumerable scorpion
tails, as though a congeries of immense scorpions
THE EUPHORBIA OF THE PLAINS Were collected in a knot with their tails in the air.
There are many other Euphorbias not already
instanced which are distinctly quaint, though their absurdity has a dash of the
saturnine. Their determination to grow^ absolutely green flowers, when nearly
every other plant goes in for colour,
shows a trait of originality.
The Aloe when it is in blossom
and throws up its spike of coral
coloured tubes, can be almost pretty ;
otherwise without flowers it is gro-
tesque as it sprawls over the ground
and its thick-spotted red and green
leaves with sharp serrated edges and
long whip-like terminations writhe in
ascending whorls from the crouching
woody stem.
The Kniphofia (the "red-hot
poker" of our gardens) is on the
borderland between the grotesque
and the beautiful. When its flower
spike is in full bearing and the many
little tube-like flowers are scarlet, lightening into yellow, it offers a fine body
of colour ; but without the bloom the plant with its limp attenuated leaves
{green and spotted with white, having much of the aloe's fleshiness without
its pompous stiflhess) looks like some monstrous caricature of a lily made in
CANDELABRA EUPHORBIAS
BOTANY 223
a madman's world. The Protea has tried to be beautiful but it merely succeeds
in being strange, with its immense saucer-shaped flowers like gigantic daisies.
These soon wither and yet remain on the bush, hideous black objects, for many
months afterwards. The Protea shrub is only fit to look at during one month
in the year.
The many creepers of the forests develop huge lianas. These are chiefly
characteristic of the various rubber-vines of the genus Landolpkia.
The Sansevieria plants should be classed amongst
the grotesque if they did not lead us by a natural
transition to the useful. They are absurd things, just
segments of crude vegetation which might be stalks,
but which are, I suppose, leaves that come up out of
the ground anyhow. One triangular leaf may be standing
alone, although there may be a Stonehenge clump of
four or five others growing stiffly together and yet having
as little connection with each other as possible. It is very
rare to see these things in flower. When they do flow^er
the blossom comes out at the side of the loaf, which makes
you think that the leaf after all is a stalk. Ordinarily
they look as though they had forgotten where
they came from and what they were doing,
and whether they should or should not
have leaves or stalks or flowers.
They are fleshy, but with limp
leathery edges, and they produce
excellent fibre. A company has
been started for the cultivation of
the Sansevieria, which grows in
dry, stony ground ; but unfortu-
nately at the present time the
price of fibre is so low that the r^^j^ ^.^ ^^p-
export of the Sansevieria will not
yield large profits. ^
Fibre is also obtained from the a landolphia liana
Aloes, Baobab and the arboreal
Hibiscus ; the extraordinary Kigelia tree (whose seed pods are sometimes nearly
as thick as a man's thigh and like a huge pendant sausage in shape) contains in
its seed pods a fibrous material like the Egyptian Lufah which can be used for
rubbing the skin after a bath, and might be utilised for many other purposes.
The natives take the seeds of these Kigelia pods and roast and eat them in
times of scarcity. A species of hemp, probably introduced, grows wild all
over British Central Africa. It is smoked by the natives, as I have already
stated. This hemp might also be got to yield a fibre, and some of the palms
would do the same.
Oils are produced by the Sesamimi (a handsome flowering plant with large
mauve-pink blossoms), by several species of Vitex, by the Castor oil plant
{Ricinus) (which grows in extravagant abundance in and near to the native
settlements), by the Oil palm found in North-West Nyasaland, by the ground
nuts (Arachis and Voandzeia, which are almost indigenous) ; and by other
seeds and nuts not yet identified.
For timber there are the African teak {Oldfieldia) \ the Khaya ; the
224
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Grewia (often twelve feet in circumference with black hard wood in the middle
through which no insect can penetrate); various species of Vitex ; the
Parinariuin ; the Afzelia (whose bark is often made into boxes) ; the Ebony
(Diospyros) ; the Ironwood {Copaiferd) ; the Msuko (Uapaca kirkiana) ; and the
Mlanje Cedar {Widdringtonia whytei).
SANSEVIERIA HBRE PLANT
Drugs are obtained from the Strophanthus creeper^ (used for poisoning
arrows and killing fish, valuable in affections of the heart) ; from the Erythroph-
la:iiin (the bark of which produces a violent emetic or poison known as Muavi)\
from the roots of certain nettles (which furnish purgatives) ; from the seeds of
the Crotons, the Castor oil plant, certain beans, euphorbias, and innumerable
^ The Strophanthus may be rt cognised by the extraordinary position of its two seed pods which grow
exactly at the end of the stalk and opposite to each other so that they look like one large pod placed at
right angles to the end of the stalk.
BOTANY
225
roots, leaves, flowers, seeds and barks not as yet identified and named. Many of
these like the Strophanthus may prove valuable additions to our Pharmacopceia.
The natives eat the fruit of the Amomum. The flower of this plant
appears a short distance above the ground in the spring months. One species
is a lovely purple-red, another a pink-mauve, a third crocus-yellow, and a fourth
GROWTH OF BRANCHES ; FOLIAC.E ; AND CONES OF THE MLANJE CEDAR
{VViddringionia tvhytei)
white. They look at a distance like exaggerated crocuses. Preceding the
florescence of the yellow species, large flat, yellow leaves appear, and spread
over the surface of the soil ; but in the case of the purple Amomums the
flower goes before the leaf, and the tall foliage which then follows is somewhat
like a dwarf banana, to which genus the Amomums are distantly related. Their
seed vessels are bright red, and are divided into sections, each with a black
seed. The pulp surrounding them is pleasantly acid and is chewed by the
226
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
natives. The seeds of one Amomum are very aromatic, and form the " Mala-
guetta " pepper from West Africa — of which our ancestors were so fond, that
it proved in the beginning of our trade with the Dark Continent, a more
powerful motive for sending ships to West Africa than the obtaining of slaves
or gold.
The fruits of the Msuko {Uapaca\ the Parinarium, the Tamarind (a very
common tree in the lowlands), the Sycomore fig, certain species of Strychnos,
3
YOUNG MLANJE CEDAR
the Anona or Custard Apple, and the various kinds of Landolphia are much
eaten by the natives. With the exception of the Tamarind, they offer little
attraction to the European.
Many trees have a sweet or an edible gum, but I have not been able
to identify the species. From the fact that a Trachylobium is found there
may be gum copal, but I cannot say that any has been brought to light as yet.
Rubber is obtained from two or more species of Landolphia, also from Finis,
and from the handsome tree or shrub Tabernccnwntana.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 227
APPENDIX I.
Xhe following essay an the "Useful Trees of British Central Africa" is the
prize essay among several sent in from the native scholars of the Blantyre
Mission Schools (Church of Scotland) to compete for a prize I offered . for the
best description in the Ci-nyanja language of the Useful Trees of the
Protectorate.
The essay here given was written in Ci-nyanja by Harry Kambwiri, one of
the native scholars of the Mission, and has been kindly translated for me into
English by the Rev. Alexander Hetherwick, M.A., of the Church of Scotland
Mission. — H. H. J.
AN ESSAY ON
THE USEFUL TREES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
By harry kambwiri
Chirama grows near marshy ground, or in the middle of the marsh itself. It is of
smooth bark, in parts scaly. It bears a fruit which is used as medicine for pleuritic
or neuralgic pains in the chest. The fruit is plucked, then roasted by the fire, and applied
to the painful spot, for the relief of the pain.
Chandimbo ^ grows on any kind of sandy soil. It has an edible fruit, black in colour
On removing the outer rind it is found exceedingly pleasant, or on simply chewing in the
mouth it resembles a sweetmeat. The wood of it is used for making pestles, spoons,
pillows and drums. It is apt to crack. The tree is not a pretty one; it has a large
number of branches ; the wood is not hard ; it is useless as a firewood ; cuttings
planted out grow well, and are employed as fencing poles.
Msuko 2 grows on sandy soil, and nowhere close to water. Its fruit reaches maturity
in October, and is edible in November and December. . When the fruit is ripe it
falls of itself, and is picked up as an edible fruit exceedingly good. In famine seasons
people squeeze the fruit into a dish, mash it up, and eat it.
The wood of it is used for boards, which are good for tables, chairs, desks, etc., etc.
The boards are red in colour, but are apt to crack. If left, however, till thoroughly dry
it does not crack.
It is used by women as firewood for burning pots, plates, etc., but it leaves a very
abundant ash.
It is employed in medicine. Pieces are chipped off and steeped. The water is then
drunk. It has an astringent taste.
It is not a deep rooter — only the tap root goes down any distance.
It is good for charcoal making; also is used for couples, etc., in house-building, as
it cannot be bored by wood insects. If the seeds are planted they grow into a tree, but
very slowly.
Mpindimbi^ grows on sandy soil near water. The fruit is edible, but bad smelling,
and is usually only eaten by animals. The timber is white, and is easily made into
boards. If cut green the wood cracks, but not if cut dry. It is made into spoons,
mortars, pillows, etc. One species, called chipindimbiy is used in medicine. If a child
is feverish its leaves are taken and pounded and mixed with water, in which the child
is then bathed.
* Erylhritia tomentosa (?).— H. II. J. * Uapaca kirkiana,—Y{. H. J. ^ ViUx sp.— H. II. J.
228 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mnyonyeve^ grows in flat, open, damp soil, or near water. Its fruit, when ripe, is
black, and is edible. I think the Europeans might employ it after pounding in the
manufacture of ink. Its wood is used in furniture-making.
Mpingo^ is a good wood, used in making the masts of dhows. With the inner
wood natives make canes, knife-handles, etc. It grows near streams, and is always
seen on the banks of big rivers. Long ago people employed this wood in making
arrow-heads, as it is exceedingly hard.
Mkundanguluwe grows on sandy soil. Is used in making knobkerries, tobacco pipes.
It takes on a good polish.
Mpinjipinji is a choice fruit tree. It is propagated from cuttings, and takes five
years before reaching maturity.
Masau grows anywhere on high ground. The surface of the tree is covered with
small prickles. It has short, small leaves and a small fruit. When ripe the fruit is red
It is then plucked or picked off the ground where it may have fallen. It is boiled in a
pot into which a gun -barrel has been inserted. The pot is covered up, and a fire
is kindled beneath it. Water is poured on the gun-barrel, and the distilled liquid is
caught in a bottle as Kachaso (spirits).
Mkakatuku grows on sandy soil. It is a very hard wood, hence its name. The
wood is good at the heart of the stem. People scrape off the bark, steep it, and
drink the liquid.
Mkwesu grows near the river or lake on small ant hills. The wood is very hard.
The fruit is long and finger-like. The wood is good for making boards for furniture, etc.
Mtundula grows near a stream. Its fruit is edible and sweet. The bark is used
for "dyeing cloth of a red colour, like Turkey-red calico. The wood can be made
into boards.
Muungutwa — a large tree growing in the long grass near a stream. It produces
a red fruit inedible save by elephants. The wood is used for making mortars, and also
for canoes.
Chita sy a is a hard wood that does not, however, grow to any size. It grows on sandy
soil. The wood is used in making head-rests (pillows) and lip ornaments for women.
Mkuyu 2 grows either near a stream or on high ground. If the stem is cut it exudes
a white sap which is used in smearing arrows, so as to harden them. The fruit is called
ngiiyu^ and is edible. In seasons of famine the fruit is plucked when still green, and
pounded and eaten as a porridge with fowl as relish. If picked up hard and dry the fruit
is mashed up and cooked. The bark of the tree gives good bark-rope. It affords good
shade. The fruit is eaten by the birds. There is another species of fig called mpufube^
with a larger fruit. If many of the fruit are eaten they are apt to cause sore throat.
Mbawa * grows near a stream or in dense clumps of forest. It is a large tree. The
fruit is not edible, but the seeds of it are roasted, pounded, and used in dyeing or softening
bark-cloth. The bark of the tree is thick. The wood is used in canoe-making. The
Europeans make excellent boards of it, as it does not crack, which they make into articles
of furniture. The natives use it as a medicine for the stomach. They chip off pieces
of bark and steep them in a dish, and drink the water.
Mngwenye is a special large-sized tree, which grows near streams. Chips of the bark
are used as medicine for the stomach. They are steeped in water, and the water is drunk.
The leaves are long and narrow. The fruit is small and inedible. The wood makes
excellent boards, of a light colour, which crack only to a small extent. The wood is
very hard, and is used for making furniture. It is also used in canoe-making.
^ Nuxia congesta. — II. H. J. * Ebony — Dhspyros sp. — 11. H. J.
^ Fi'cus sycotnortis. — H. H. J. * Khaya senegaieitsh. — H. H. J.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 229
Msumbuti grows anywhere on sandy soil. Its bark is used in making bark -cloth,
and also bark -rope. When dry the timber makes good firewood.
Napiri^ grows on flat, open, wet plains, also on higher ground. The natives
use the wood in making pestles for pounding grain, as it is hard and heavy. It makes
good firewood.
Mlombwa grows anywhere on sandy soil or on the hills. By partially burning it
makes good charcoal. The sap is red and is sticky to the touch. The natives make
mortars, drums, spoons, pestles, etc. It makes beautiful boards. The bark is used as
medicine for nettlerash. The fruit is used in pleuritic pains of the chest. It is roasted,
and the ash is punctured into the painful spot.
Nkomwa grows near a stream. It is used in making drums, pestles, spoons, pillows.
It is a very light wood, and makes good boards. The leaves are small, and the bark
is thin.
MJombo^ grows near streams or on sandy soil. The fruit is eaten by baboons.
Natives make bark -cloth and strong bark -rope.
Mkalate grows on sandy soil, especially near the foot of hills. It is used in making
wall posts for houses, and roofing.
Balisa grows on high ground. It makes into good boards. The wood of it is very
hard. The natives here make good pestles of it.
Nkako grows near streams or in clumps of forest trees. Natives make head-rests of it,
and wooden arrow-heads for shooting small birds. The wood is good and hard.
MUndimilo grows on high ground or on hills. It blossoms into flowers on the
approach of the rainy season. Natives use the wood for making drums, which are strong
and give out plenty of sound. Chips of the bark are used in medicine.
Mbanga grows on high ground. It is an exceedingly hard wood. The leaves are
used as medicine in headache. They are pounded or steeped in a pot or basin, and the
face is washed with the water. Sometimes simply the smell of the leaves is sufficient. It
makes an excellent medicine, and effects a cure after repeated applications. When dry
the wood makes good firewood which leaves no ash.
Mlambe,^ the largest tree in this country, grows near water. It produces a fruit called
malambe, the inside of which is white and is eaten thus : — the inside is scooped out,
mixed with water, and eaten. Large strips of the wood are taken and beaten, so as to
form a fibre from which cord is made. The tree produces very few leaves.
Mkongomwa is a good tree for shade. It grows near the River Shire, and also in the
Mangoni country.
Ngosa grows on flat plains near rivers. The wood on being cut is very soft. The
bark is used in making cord for weaving nets or sewing sleeping mats. The fruit is
roasted and mixed with tobacco snuff" as a flavouring.
Mlundo grows anywhere on sandy soil. The leaves are small; the wood is hard:
the fruit is inedible. It is used as medicine for the stomach by steeping the bark and
drinking the water, or by twisting it into a cord and wearing the cord tied round the waist.
Chikujumbu grows on sandy soil or near a stream. The bark is covered with small
scales. One is growing in the Square at Blantyre Mission. The wood is used for
making mortars, pestles, spoons and pillows.
Chutnbu is used as stomach medicine. The bark is chipped off" and steeped, and
the water is drunk. It is also used in treating boils. The boil is opened with a sharp
point made of this wood which prevents it recurring again. The tree grows on sandy
5oil near ant-hills. It is a very soft wood.
' Copaifera sp., allied to the Mopane or ** ironwood" tree of Livingstone. — H. H. J.
' Brachystegia longifolia.—\\. H.J. ^ The Baobab — Adansonia digitata. — H. H.
J-
230 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mtawa grows on any kind of soil. The wood is not hard. When dry it is not
heavy, but when green, natives make good bark-cloth of it, and rope.
Msopa is used in medicine, and also to make bows. It makes good boards. Chips
of it are steeped in the water where bark-cloth is steeped, so as to dye it black. The
wood is hard to cut and cracks. It grows close to streams or in damp, marshy spots.
Mkwale grows on plains, as on the bank of the Tuchila. It is used for making
spoons, pestles, and lip-rings worn by native women. It is very white, and does not crack.
Msolo grows on sandy soil, and makes good boards. Natives cut it into pestles,
pipes, and spoons. It will not make mortars because it is too hard. The fruit is eaten
by game such as bushbuck, etc.
Msechela grows on sandy soil near a hill. It is very like the msuku tree, but has
smaller leaves. It makes as good boards as the msuku tree. The fruit is small and
edible.
Mchenje grows on plains near ant-hills. The bark is rough and the leaves are small.
It is used in medicine by steeping chips of it in water, and drinking the water. It is
used as medicine for game-traps. The fruit is pounded and placed in the traps. In
seasons of famine it is eaten as a food.
Nkungunyanjila grows anywhere near the river. Its fruit is not eatable. The wood
makes good boards. It is used as medicine for sores, by steeping chips of the wood
in water, and washing over the wound by means of a feather.
Chiwimbi grows near streams. The stem is light in colour. The leaves are long and
narrow. The natives make the wood into pestles, spoons, mortars, etc. It makes good
boards of a white colour. It is also used in making drums, and as stomach medicine in
fever.
Mkwakwa produces a nice fruit. It grows on hills in dense clumps of trees. The
fruit is sweet and tastes like pineapple. • .
Mguwanguwo is used in medicine by steeping the bark. It has a very bitter taste
like quinine. It makes into good boards.
Mseje cuts into good boards. It is not hard to saw up. The wood is red in colour.
It grows on sandy soil. When the tree is small its branches make good pestles.
M;oie ^ is a good w-ood used in canoe-making. It is a very tall tree, with the leaves
all at the top. It makes into very strong canoes. It grows on the river and at Linjisi.
Sanya is a tree that grows at the river, and is used in making wall-posts of houses,
and in twisting into ropes. It is a very common tree.
Mtomoni grows on sandy soil and hilly country. It is used in medicine. It makes
a good tree for fence-posts, as it takes root and grows. The sap is used in smearing the
tops of drums, that the india-rubber may adhere to the skin. The fruit is inedible.
Mbewe grows on sandy soil. Long ago the wood was used for arrow-heads. It is
used also in smelting and working iron, that the metal may be made readily malleable.
MpeUle grows on plains near the river. The tree is one used in canoe-making, as it
does not crack.
Mtondo is found at the river, and is used in canoe-making, and in making mortars,
pestles, etc. The fruit, which is called Matondo^ is edible.
Msichisi"^ grows near streams. The wood is used in making stocks of guns, pestles,
pillows.
Msangti^ a canoe tree. The bark is rough, the leaves are small. It grows at the river.
Msumwa grows at the river; somewhat rough in the bark. The tree is useful in
canoe- making.
* Parinarium sp. — H. H. J. ' Wild date palm, Phccnix sp. — H. H. J.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 231
Mkunde ^ grows near streams. Is useful in canoe-makipg. The fruit is edible, but is
apt to discolour the teeth.
Dululu grows on sandy soil. It is used in making drums, mortars, spoons, etc. It
makes good boards. The root also is used in drum-making. It is a light wood.
Mtondewoko is used in canoe-making. Elephants are fond of the fruit. The wood
is hard and very heavy. It is used in making the big drums used by the river people.
Mtundu grows in clumps of trees or on the sites of deserted villages. Cuttings are
planted at the chiefs courtyard, and grow very quickly into a' big tree which can be
readily recognised.
Mkoloflonjo grows on plains. The wood of the stem is very full of knots. It is
used in canoe-making. It is found at the river and at the Tuchila.
Ntepa makes excellent bark-rope. It grows on flat grassy plains.
Ngachi?^ a leafless tree. If the sap drops into the eye it causes inflammation of the
cornea. It is used as a fish poison. It grows on the sites of old villages.
Mdogodea cuts easily into boards. It is a smooth-barked tree with small leaves, and
grows near a stream. The fruit is named Mandogodia.
Mvumo,^ or Ngwalangwa^ is a river tree of great height. The fruit is edible. The
leaves are long like those of the date palm. It is propagated from the seed. The root
also is used as food in a similar manner to the carsana plant.
Mwaja — a large tree growing on the banks of streams. It is red in colour, and
produces a fruit as large as a pumpkin. When ripe the fruit falls to the ground. People
pick it up, take out the seeds, roast them, and eat them. The tree is found on Mounts
Mangoche and Nangu.
Nangwesu is a good tree for bark -cloth. It grows on sandy soil. Its bark is also
used for bark-rope.
Mtalawanda is used for bows and sticks. The bark is smooth, and the leaves are
small. It grows at the river.
Tenza is used for bows and sticks. It grows in sandy soil near streams. It is not of
much use. In appearance it is very similar to the Mtalawanda tree.
Mtewelewe grows an edible fruit. It is used for wall-posts of houses.
Nkope is used for making bows. The wood is hard, the leaves are large, and the bark
smooth. It grows near streams in clumps of trees.
Nkulakula is used in making Hds of covered baskets. The wood is adzed down thin,
and bent into a circular form. It is also used in making beer cups.
Nabukwi is used for mortars, drums, etc. It is also made into boards.
Chinyenye is used to make mallets for hammering out bark-cloth. Europeans may
use it for wooden hammers. It grows near the river.
Mpawoni is a large tree like Mbawa. It grows near streams on the banks of the
Tuchila and Nkwakwasa. In appearance it is like the Mbawa, but has not the red
colour.
Mchiky or Kalisache^ grows anywhere even as a parasite. It makes very strong bark-
cloth. It is red in colour, and is used also in making bark-cloth. Its fruit is called Ngile,
Chisije, — The Chikunda people at Michiru take chips of the wood, mix the water in
which they are steeped with Likwanya plant, and use it in dyeing cloth of a black colour.
It grows anywhere on sandy soil.
1 ParkiafiHcoidea.-^. H. J. ■» Euphorbia sp.— H. H. J.
' Apparently these are two diflferent palms. Mvumo is the Borassus flahellifcr^ and Ng^valangwa
HyphiPnes^. inc. — H. H.J.
232 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
LuT^gwe makes a medicine for sores. Chips are taken off, placed in a pot, and heated
over the fire. The infusion is applied to the sore by means of a feather.
Mkakomtela makes lip-rings, and is carved into gun-stocks.
Mkemgusa (Mlanje Cedar) is a noteable tree in British Central Africa. It is used in
making tables, chairs, etc. It is easily cut and planed, and has a sweet smell. It also
makes good walking-sticks.
Nkolopochi — a tree which grows on the hills, and has a fruit of the same name, which
is bright red when ripe.
Mchenjilema is a tree that grows on hilly ground. It is a tree of great use. It is
large in size, and grows in forest clumps. It has very large roots that grow down deep
into the ground.
Msilanyama — a fruit tree, but small. People take the bark (or husks) and pound it
in a mortar, and make an oil used in smearing their bodies. It grows on sandy soil.
The fruit is small like a chitalaka bead.
Nkulukututu grows on sandy soil or near a stream. The fruit is very edible. The
wood is used for making wooden spoons.
Chipisawago^ like the chinyenye tree, is used for making wooden mallets. After
adzing, they are marked with a hot iron, and are used for hammering bark-cloth. It is
an exceedingly hard wood, hence its name — chipisawago^ "the blunter of the axe"
If Europeans make mallets of this tree they will find it very useful.
Mpandabwalo is easily cut into boards. It does not crack. The seeds are used by
women for lip-rings.
Nakalima grows on hilly country, and makes into good boards.
Chandafu grows on hilly country ; is a very large tree, and makes good boards. The
tree is dark in colour, and the bark is very rough.
Nkangasa — a canoe-tree growing at the river or on the hills. It is found here, and
makes good boards.
Mchelechela grows near streams or in clumps of forest trees. It is a very large tree,
and is used in making, spoons, mortars, and canoes.
Nkalala grows in forest clumps. It is used in canoe-making.
Mchenga is used in making handles for hoes and axes. The leaves are small, and the
bark is rough.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 233
APPENDIX 11.
LIST OF THE KNOWN PLANTS OCCURRING IN
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA,
NYASALAND, AND THE BRITISH TERRITORY NORTH OF
THE ZAMBEZI
COMPILED, BY PERMISSION OF THE DIRECTOR, FROM MATERIALS IN THE
HERBARIUM OF THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW
By I. H. BURKILL, M.A.
The following list, compiled for the most part from the plants and manuscript records
in the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew, must be regarded as provisional. The
knowledge of the flora of the British territory north of the Zambezi has been so rapidly
extended during recent years, and is yet so imperfectly known, that any account
approaching completeness is at present impossible. Little has been published hitherto,
and the facts now collected together will serve to bring into one view nearly all we
know of the Botany of British Central Africa.
The first collections were made by two members of the Livingstone Expedition
in the years 1861, 1862. Dr. (afterwards Sir) John Kirk and Mr. J. C. Meller, while
exploring the course of the Shire River and wandering in the Maiianja hills, made
considerable collections, which were transmitted to Kew, some of them in time
for description in the Flora of Tropical Africa, Subsequently Dr. Kirk journeyed
up the Zambezi into the Batoka country, from the highlands of which and from the
r^on of the Victoria Falls other plants were sent home. The new species
gathered by him were described in a variety of different publications. In the
following years Mr. Horace Waller, residing in the Maiianja hills, continued to
transmit plants to Dr. Kirk, who was at that time H.M.'s Consul in Zanzibar. After
this comes a gap of some years in which nothing was added to our knowledge,
until Dr. Emil Holub, in 1879, returned from a journey during which he had made
considerable collections. Of these, a few of the plants had been gathered about
Sesheke, almost the most northern point which he reached, and within the territory
under consideration. At the same time (1878) Major Serpa Pinto made, in his
journey across the continent, a small collection on the table-land over the river
Ninda, and the plants of this were, in 1881, described in the Transactions of the
Linncsan Society, Again in this year, 1878, the late Mr. John Buchanan sent to Kew
his first collection of Nyasaland plants, and Mr. L. Scott travelled collecting through
the Shire Highlands to the head of Lake Nyasa.
From this date our knowledge has steadily grown. Under the influence and with
the help of Sir Harry Johnston, the region of the Shire Highlands has been
energetically explored. The frequent mention below of the names of J. Buchanan,
G. F. Scott- Elliot, J. McClounie, J. Last, A. Whyte, and K. C. Cameron shows how
much has been done in this region. Further north, in 1879, Mr. Joseph Thomson
234 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
had gathered plants on the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, and these reached Kew in
1880. Messrs. Carson, Nutt, Scott-Elliot and Sir Harry Johnston have also collected
on the plateau, and the first-named on a journey along the Kalungwizi River to
Lake Mweru.
The collection made at Boroma, on the north of the Zambezi, by the Rev.
L. Menyharth, is only in part known.
As a guide to the distribution, the region has been divided into four sections, as
follows : —
1. Shire Highlands.
2. Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau; some of the plants probably collected on
the German side of the boundary line.
3. Extreme west, where Major Serpa Pinto alone has collected.
4. Upper Zambezi.
It must be understood that all the plants collected by Buchanan were obtained
in the Shire Highlands; all by Carson and Nutt, unless otherwise stated, from the
region near the south end of Lake Tanganyika; all from Serpa Pinto from the one
plateau near the river Ninda ; and all from Menyharth from Boroma. It was not
thought necessary to repeat these localities with the collectors' names.
PHANEROGAMS.
Ranunculaceae.
Clematis Kirkii^ Oliv. (1) Mafianja hills, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
C. gratuy Oliv. (i) Buchanan.
C simensis^ Fresen. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
C. Thunbergiiy Steud. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Clematis sp. (2) Carson.
Thalictrum rhynchocarpum^ Dill, et Rich, (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
T, longipedunculatum^ Harv. ct Sond. (i) Buchanan.
Anemone why teana^ Baker fiL (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Ranunculus pinnatusy Poir. (i) Buchanan.
Ranunculus sp. (2) Carson.
Delphinium dasycaulon^ Fresen. (2) Nutt.
Anonaceae.
Anona senegalensis, Pers. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
Scott-Elliot.
Anona sp. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott- Elliot.
Uvaria spp. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Xylopia sp. ? (i) Buchanan.
l/nona spp, (i) Buchanan.
Monodora stenopetala^ Oliv. (i) Rapids of Shire River and west of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Menispermaceae.
Jateorhiza Columba, Miers. (i) Buchanan.
Tiliacora i^) funifera^ Oliv. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller ; (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Tiliacora sp. (i) Buchanan.
Cocculus villosusy DC. (i) Rapids of Shire River, Kirk.
Cissampelos Pareira^ L. (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands and Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot;
Zomba, Whyte.
C. nephrophylla^ Bojer. (i) Buchanan.
Stephania abyssinica^ Rich. (?) (i) Buchanan.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES
235
Nymphaeaceae.
Nymphaea stellata, Willd. (i) Lake Nyasa and Shire River, Kirk; Buchanan; (2) Carson.
CRUCI FERAE.
Nasturtium indicum^ L. (4) Menyharth.
Brassica juncea^ DC. (i) Murchison Falls, Shire River, Meller ; Buchanan.
Capparidaceae.
Cleome monophylla^ L. (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
C. chilocalyxy Oliv. (i) Shire River, Meller.
C. hirta, Oliv. (i) Maravi country. Kirk; (2) Carson; Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C ciliata. Sebum, et Thonn. (2) Carson.
Cleome sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Gynandropsis pentaphylla^ DC. (i) Buchanan ; Shire River, Meller.
Thylacium a/ricanum, Lour, (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Maerua nervosa^ Oliv. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Maerua sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Boscia salicifolia^ Oliv. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
B, Carsoni, Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Capparis rosea^ L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; by Lake Nyasa and Upper Shire,
Kirk.
C, tomentosa, Lam. (i) Buchanan.
C. Kirkii, Oliv. (i) By Lake Nyasa and Upper Shire, Kirk.
Capparis sp. ( i ) Buchanan .
Ritchiea sp. (2) Carson.
Resedaceae.
Caylusea abyssinica^ Fisch. et Mey. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Violaceae.
lonidium enneaspermum^ Vent, (i) Blantyre, Last ; (4) Menyharth.
/. nyassense, Engl. (1) Buchanan.
Viola abyssinica, Steud. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Moringeae.
Mofinga pterygosperma^ DC. (i) Lake Nyasa and Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Bixineae.
Oncoba spinosa^ Forsk. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
O. lasiocalyxy Oliv. (i) Lake Chilwa, Kirk.
O. peter siana^ Oliv. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Flacourtia Ramon tchi, L'H^rit. (i) Buchanan.
Aphloia theaeformis, Benn. (i) Mlanje, McClounie and Whyte; Zomba, Whyte;
Buchanan.
Kiggelaria grandifoliay Warb. (i) Buchanan.
PiTTOSPORACEAE.
Pittosporum sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
POLYGALACEAE.
Poly gala gomesiana, Welw. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk; Zomba, Whyte; Blantyre, Last;
(2) Nutt ; lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
P. amboinensisy Giirke. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
236
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
POLYGALACEAE.
PolygaJa UnuicauliSy Hook. fil. (2) Carson.
P. rarifolia, DC. (2) Nutt
P. triflorOf L. (i) Buchanan.
P, pofygonifolta, Chodat (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
P, briiteniafia, Chodat. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
P, ^persicariaefolia^ DC. (i) Blantyrc, Last ; Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan ;
Mananja hills, Kirk and Waller.
P.petitiana^ Rich, (i) Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Waller.
P, virgata^ Thunb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie; Buchanan.
P, krumaninay Burchell. (3) Serpa Pinto.
P» micranthay G. et P. (2) Carson.
Poly gala spp. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last
Securidaca longepedunculatay Fresen. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Zomba, Whyte;
Buchanan.
Securidaca sp. (i) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Muraltia mixta, L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Zomba, Whyte.
Caryophyllaceae.
Dianthus Serpaey Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Silene Burchelliiy Otth. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie; Shire Highlands, Scott-
Elliot ; Buchanan ; (2) Upper Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Silene sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Cer ostium africanumy Oliv. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Cerastium sp. (2) Lower Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Stellaria media, Cyr. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
DryTnaria cordata, Willd. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Polycarpaea corymbosay L. (4) Menyharth ; var. ejffusay Oliv. (i) Buchanan.
Polycarpaea sp. (4) Menyharth.
PORTULACEAE.
Portulaca quadrifida, L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Mweru, Carson.
Hypericineae.
Hypericum peplidifoliumy Rich, (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; Shire Highlands, Scott-
Elliot ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
H. lanceolatumy Lam. (i) Buchanan; Mananja hills, Meller; Blantyre, Last; Mlanje
and Zomba, Whyte.
H. quartinianumy Rich, (i) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Hypericum sp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Psorospermum febrifugumy Spach. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk ; Zomba, Whyte ;
Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot and J. Thomson.
Psorospermum sp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Haronga madagascariensisy Choisy. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Guttiferae.
Garcinia Buchananiy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
D I PTERO C ARPEAE.
Vatica africanay Welw., \zx, glotneratUy Oliv. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 237
Malvaceae.
Sida humilis^ Cav. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
S. rhombifolia^ L. (i) Buchanan.
5. spinosa, L. (i) Buchanan.
S. cordifolia^ L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller ; Buchanan.
Sida sp. (4) Menyharth ; Holub.
Abutilon angulatum^ Mast (i) Katunga, Meller ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
A, sanzibaricuntj Bojer. (i) Buchanan.
A. longicuspe^ Hochst. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller.
A, indicum, Don. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (4) Sesheke, Kirk.
A. graveolens, W. et A. (i) Buchanan.
Abutilon sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Urena lobata, L. (2) Carson.
Pavonia Meyeri^ Mast, (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
P, schimperiana, Hochst (i) Buchanan; Chiradzulu, Meller and Whyte; (2) Lower
plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
P, urens, Cav. (i) Buchanan.
Pavonia spp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Kosteletzkya adoensis^ Hochst (i) Buchanan.
Hibiscus viti/olius, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot ; Buchanan.
H. diversi/olius, Jacq. (i) Maiianja hills, Meller ; Lower Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan.
H, surattensis^ L. (i) Buchanan. •
H, Sabdariffuy L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk.
H. cannabinusy L. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Chiradzulu, Meller.
H. frossypinus, Thunb. (i) Mananja hills. Kirk and Meller ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ;
Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
H. micranthus, L. (i) Katunga, Meller ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-Elliot
H. Solandra. UH^rit (i) Shire River, Kirk.
H. physaloides, G. et P. (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
Hibiscus spp. (1) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron ; (2) Carson ; Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson ; (4) Holub.
Gossypium barbadense^ L. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Adansonia digitata^ L. (i) Lake Chilwa, McClounie.
Sterculiaceae.
Sterculia melissi/olia, Benth. (2) Carson.
S. iriphaca^ R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
Sterculia sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Dombeya multijlora^ Planch, (i). Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte.
D. spectabilis^ Bojer. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
D. Kirkiiy Mast (i) Katunga, Meller.
D. Burgessiae, Genr. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Blantyre, Last; Chiradzulu, Whyte;
Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Dombeya sp. (2) Carson ; Upper and Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, Thomson.
Melhania Porbesiiy Planch, (i) Buchanan.
M, acuminata^ Mast (1) Buchanan.
Walthcria ainericana^ L. ( i ) Buchanan.
Melochia corchorifolia. L. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Valley, Kirk.
Hermannia inamoena^ K. Schum. (i) Buchanan.
H, Kirkiiy Mast (1) Buchanan.
238
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
TiLIACEAE
Grewia asiatica, L. (i) Buchanan.
G, inaequilatera^ Garcke. (i) Lower Shire, Kirk and Meller.
Grewia spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Triumfetta rhomboidea^ Jacq. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
T. Welwitschiiy Mast, (i) Near Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
T, AfasUrstij Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
T. Sonderiiy Ficalho et Hiern. (3) Serpa Pinto.
T.pilosuy Roth, (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
T. trichocarpa, Hochst (i) Buchanan.
T. tomentosay Bojer. (i) Buchanan.
Triumfetta spp. (f) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Nyasa,
J. Thomson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
Spamiannia abyssinica^ E. Mey. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie ; (2) Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
S. palmata^ E. Mey. (i) Buchanan.
Cor chorus tridens^ L. (i) Blantyre, Last.
C. olitorius^ L, (i) Buchanan.
. Ceratosepalum digitatunty Oliv. (2) Carson.
LiNEAE.
Rry thro xy Ion emargituitu m, Schum et Thonn. (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott-
EUiot.
Malpighiaceae.
Acridocarpus chloropterus^ Oliv. (i) Shire Valley, Meller and Kirk.
Acridocarpus s^, (i) Buchanan.
Triaspis sp. ( i ) Buchanan .
Zygophylleae.
Tribulus terrestris, L. (i) Buchanan.
Geraniaceae.
Geranium aculeolatum^ Oliv. (i) Buchanan.
G, simense^ Hochst. (i) Zomba, Kirk; Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Lower plateau, north of
Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
G. favosum^ Hochst. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Geranium spp. (i) Zomba, Cunningham ; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Pelargonium sp. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson and Scott- Elliot ; Carson.
Oxaiis semiloba^ Sond. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk ; Blantyre, Last.
O, oUgotricha^ Baker. (2) Carson.
O. sensitiva^ L. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte ; Blantyre, Last.
O. trichophyllay Baker. (2) Carson.
O, corniculatay L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Oxaiis spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; (2) Nutt.
Impatiens capensis, Thunb. (i) Chiradzulu and Mananja hills, Meller.
/. Kirkiiy Hook. fil. (i) Western side of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
/. assurgensy Baker. (2) Nutt ; Carson.
/. shirensisy Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
/. ^omphophylla^ Baker. (4) Carson.
/. micrantha^ Hochst. (?) (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Impatiens spp. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Carson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 239
RUTACEAE.
Toddalia aculeatay Pers. (i) Buchanan.
Toddalia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Clausena inaequalis^ Benth. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
Citrus Aurantiuniy L. (i) Buchanan.
SlMARUBEAE.
Brucea sp. (?) (4) Menyharth.
Kirkia acuminata^ Oliv. (i) Buchanan.
OCHNACEAE.
Ochna leptoclada^ Oliv. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Maravi country, Kirk ; Buchanan.
O. macrocalyxy Oliv. (i) Sochi, Kirk; Mananja hills, Meller; Zomba, Whyte; Mlanje,
McClounie; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
O.floribunday Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Ochna spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson; Carson
BURSERACEAE.
Canarium sp. (i) Lake Nyasa, Scott- Elliot.
Commiphora pilosa^ EngL (4) Menyharth.
C mozambicensisy Engl, (i) Lower Shire River, Kirk.
Commiphora spp. (4) Menyharth ; Boroma and Batoka country, Kirk.
Meliaceae.
Turraea nilotica^ Kotschy. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
T, capiiata^ Klotzsch. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Turraea sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (4) Menyharth.
Trichilia emetica, Vahl. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
T, capitata, Klotzsch. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (4) Menyharth.
T, Buchananiy C. DC. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Trichilia spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Khaya senegalensis, A. Juss. (?) (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Ekebergia Buchananiiy Harms, (i) Buchanan.
Olacineae.
Olax dissitiflora^ Oliv. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Olax sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Ximenia a?nericana, L. (i) Buchanan.
Apodytes dimidiata^ E. Mey. (i) Buchanan.
Chlamydocarya sp. (4) Menyharth.
Ilicineae.
Ilex capensisy Sond. et Harv. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Buchanan.
Celastraceae.
Celastrus laurifolius, Rich, (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
C. senegalensisy Lam. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte; Buchanan; (2)? Lower plateau, north of
La3ce Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C serratusy Hochst. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Gymnosporia laurinay Szyszyl. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
G, undata, Szyszyl. (i) Buchanan.
G. buxifolia, Szyszyl., var. venenata^ Sand, (i) Buchanan.
240 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Celastraceae.
Gymnosporia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Cassine Buchananiiy Loesn. (i) Buchanan.
C. aethiopica^ Thunb. (i) Buchanan.
Hippocratea obtusifolia^ Roxb. (4) Menyharth.
Hippocratea Buchananiiy Loesn. (i) Buchanan.
Hippocratea sp. (4) Menyharth.
Salacia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Pleurostylia Wightii^ Wight et Arnott. (i) Buchanan.
Rhamneae.
Zizyphus Jujuba, Lam. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Z. mucronata^ Willd. (i) Shire River, Kirk and Meller.
Gouania sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Helinus ovatus, E. Mey. (i) Lower valley of the Shire River, Meller ; Buchanan.
Phylica spicata, L. ? (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Ampelideae.
Vitis eryihrodesy Fresen. (i) Buchanan.
V, congesta^ Baker, (i) Katunga, Meller.
V, abyssinicay Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
V. rubiginosa, Wclw. (i) Buchanan.
K serpens , Baker, (i) Zomba, Whyte.
V, griseaj Baker, (i) Shire River, Kirk.
V, jatrophoides, Welw. (i) Mbami, near Blantyre, Kirk ; Buchanan.
V. integrifolia^ Bakjer. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
K subciliata. Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Katunga, L. Scott
K ibuensis, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Vitis spp. (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Mananja hills, Meller;
(2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Cissus aristolochiae/olia, Planch, (i) Buchanan.
C. subgiaucescensy Planch, (i) Buchanan.
C kirkiana. Planch., van Uvingstoniiy Planch, (i) Buchanan.
C, Buchananiiy Planch, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
C. cucumerifoliay Planch. ( i ) Katunga, Kirk.
C. crotalarioides, Planch, (i) Buchanan.
Leea sp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
Sapindaceae.
Cardiosperttium microcarpum, H. B. K. (i) Buchanan.
Paullinia pinnatay L. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte.
Paullinia sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Schmidefia repanda. Baker, (i) Shire River, Kirk.
S. africanOy DC. (1) Buchanan.
Schmidelia spp. (1) Buchanan.
Cupania spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot
Blighia sambesiacay Baker, (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Lecaniodiscus fraxinifoliay Baker, (i) Shire River, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Sapindus xanihocarpus^ Kl. (i) Buchanan ; Shire River to Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Dodonaea viscosa, L. (i) Buchanan; Zomba, Whyte; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Bersama sp. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 241
Anacardiaceae.
Rhus viminalis^ Vahl. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
R. vzilosa, Linn. fil. (1) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte ; var.
grandifolia^ Oliv. (i) Mbami, near Blantyre, Kirk.
R, Kirkii, Oliv. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
R. pulcherrima^OXxw, (i) Buchanan.
R, glaucescens. Rich, (i) Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north
of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
R. mucronifolia^ Sond. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
R, insignis^ Del. ( i ) Zomba, Whyte.
R. retinorrhoeay Steud. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Rhus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Spondias sp. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot ; (4) Menyharth.
ScUrocarya caffra^ Sond. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
CONNARACEAE.
Rourea ovali/oim^ Gilg. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Leguminosae.
Crotalaria anthyllopsis, Welw. (i) Buchanan.
C laxiflora^ Baker. (2) Carson.
C. glauca^ Willd. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk.
C. Vogelii^ Bcnth. (i) Buchanan.
C. cephaloiesy Steud. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last.
C. loti/olia, L. (i) Buchanan.
C. cUomifoliay Welw. (i) Buchanan.
C. erisemoides, Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
C. lanceolata^ E. Mey. (i) Buchanan.
C. intermedia^ Kotschy. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C. natalitia^ Meisn. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
C hyssopifolia^ Kl. (1) Buchanan.
C recta^ Steud. (i) Mlanje, Whyte; Buchanan ; Mafianja hills, Waller ; (2) Carson.
C. spinosa, Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
Crotalaria spp. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Argyrolobium shirense, Taub. (1) Buchanan.
Adenocarpus Mannii^ Hook. fil. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Parochetus comfttunis^ Hamilt. (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
Medicago lupulinay L. (i) Buchanan.
Lotus arabicus^ L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
L, tigrensis. Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Lotus sp. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Psoralea sp. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Indigofera vicioides^ Jaub. et Spach. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
/. trachyphylla^ Benth. (i) Buchanan.
I. polysphaera^ Baker. (2) Carson.
/. Lyaliii, Baker, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
/. heterotricha, DC. (3) Serpa Pinto.
/. dodecaphylla, Ficalho et Hiern. (3) Serpa Pinto.
/. secundifioray Poir. (i) Upper Shire Valley, Scott-EUiot; (2) Lower plateau, north of
Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson.
/. spiendens^ Ficalho et Hiern. (3) Serpa Pinto.
16
242 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Leguminosae.
Indigo f era multijuga. Baker, (i) Buchanan.
/. demissa^ Taub. (i) Buchanan.
/. iinctoria^ L. (i) Buchanan.
/. hirsuta^ L. (i) Buchanan.
/. torulosay Baker, (i) Buchanan.
/. emarginella^ Steud. (i) Buchanan.
/. arrecta^ Hochst. (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
/. endecaphylla, Baker, (i) Zomba, Meller.
I.procera, S. et T. (i) Buchanan.
Indigo/eras^^, (1) Buchanan; Blantyre, Last; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; (2) Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson and Scott-EUiot ; Nutt ; Carson.
Tephrosia sericea. Baker, (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; Zomba, Whyte.
T. Vogelii, Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
T. iongipesy Meisn. (3) Serpa Pinto.
T. purpurea, Pers. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
T. linearis, Pers. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
T. whyteana. Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
T. Nyasae, Baker fil. (i) Buchanan.
71 lupini folia, DC. (i) Buchanan.
T. dichroocarpa, Steud. ( 1 ) Buchanan.
T. schizocalyxy Taub. (i) Buchanan. ^
7". sambesiaca, Taub. (i) Buchanan.
Tephrosia spp. (i) Buchanan; (2) Carson; Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Mundulea suberosa, Benth. (i) Buchanan.
Sesbania sp. (i) Buchanan.
Astragalus abyssinicus, Steud. (i) Buchanan.
Ormocarpum mimosoides, S. Moore, (i) Buchanan.
Hertniniera elaphroxylon, Guill. et Perr. (i) Buchanan.
Aeschynomene aspera, L. (i) Elephant Marsh on Shire River, Kirk.
A. shirensis, Taub. (i) Buchanan.
A. indica, L. (i) Buchanan.
A, Schimperi, Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
A. siifolia, Welw. (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte.
A. gliiiinosa, Taub. (i) Buchanan.
Aeschynomene spp. (1) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Blantyre, Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ;
(2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-EUiot ; Carson.
Sinithia nodulosa. Baker, (i) Chiradzulu, Meller.
S. strobilantha, Welw. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
S. strigosa, Benth. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-EUiot.
5. scaberrima, Taub. (i) Buchanan.
.S". sensitiva, XiX. (i) Buchanan.
S. Carsoniy Baker, (i) Carson.
Smithia spp. (i) Zomba, Whyte; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson ; Carson.
Geissaspis humuloidcs, Hiern. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-EUiot ; Lower
plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Arachis hypogaea, L. (2) Nutt.
Desmodium dimorphum, Welw. (1) Mananja hills, Kirk; Buchanan.
D. Scalpe, DC. (i) Buchanan.
D. barbatum, Benth. (i) Buchanan.
BOTANICAL APPENDTUES 243
Leguminosae.
Desmodium lasiocarpum, DC. (i) Buchanan.
D, gangeticum, DC. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller.
D, hirtum^ Guill. ct Pcrr. (1) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte.
D. ascendens, DC. (I) Zomba, Whyte.
D. latifolium, DC. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Waller.
D. tanganyikenscy Baker. (2) Carson.
D. paleaceum^ Guill. et Perr. (i) Buchanan.
Desmodium spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Pseudarthria Hookeri^ W. et A. (2) Nutt.
Pseudarihria sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Alysicarpus rugosuSy DC. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands and Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot.
Alysicarpus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Lathyrus s^, (i) Buchanan.
Abrus precatorius, L. (i) Buchanan.
Clitorea ternatea^ H. B. K. (i) Buchanan.
Dumasiaviilosa,V>Q, (i) Buchanan.
Glycine javanica^ L. (1) Lower Shire Valley, Meller ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Glycine sp. (2) Carson.
Teramnus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Erythrina tomentosa, Benth. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller.
£. Humeiy E. Mey. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller ; Shire River, Kirk.
Erythrina sp. (i) Buchanan.
Mucuna coriacea, Baker, (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte.
M. ereclay Baker. (2) Carson.
Mucuna sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Canavalia oblusifoliUy DC. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
C. ensiformis, DC. (i) Buchanan.
Phaseolus lunatus, L. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
P, Kirkii, Baker, (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Phaseolus sp^. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
Vigna vexillaia^ Benth. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
V. luteola, Benth. (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; Fort Johnston, Scott-Elliot.
V. Catjang, Walp. (i) Buchanan.
I 'igna sp. ( I ) Buchanan.
Foandzeia sublerranea^ Thouars. (2) Nutt.
Psophocarpus longepedunculaius, Hassk. (i) Buchanan.
Dolichos biJloruSy L. (2) Carson.
D. ereclusy Baker fil. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte.
D. platypus y Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
/>. axillaris, E. Mey. (i) Mbami, L. Scott.
D.pteropusy Baker. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot; Carson.
D. simplicifoliuSy Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan.
D. xiphophyllus. Baker. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot ; Carson.
D. lupinoidesy Baker. (2) Carson.
Dolichos spp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Cajanus indicuSy Spreng. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Rhynchosia cyanospenna^ Benth. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller; Chiradzulu, Whyte; Buchanan.
R, detisiflora, DC. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
R, antennuliferay Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Meller.
R. caribaea, DC. (i) Buchanan.
244 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Leguminosae.
Rhynchosia minima^ DC. (i) Buchanan ; Upper Shire River, Scott-Elliot.
R. comosa, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Rhynchosia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Eriosejna cajanoides^ Hook. fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan; (2) Carson; (3) Serpa
Pinto.
E. pannflorutn, E. Mey. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
E. flcmingioides^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
E, shirensisy Baker fil. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
E. montanum, Baker fil. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
E. polystachyum^ Baker. (2) Carson.
Eriosema spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson; Nutt ; Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Flemingia rhodocarpa^ Baker, (i) Mafianja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
F. macrocalyx^ Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Dalbergia Melanoxylon^ Guill. et Perr. (i) Buchanan.
Dalbergia spp. ( i ) Buchanan.
Pterocarpus melliferus^ Welw. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Pterocarpus %^, (i) Buchanan.
Lonchocarpns InxiJloruSy Guill. et Perr., var. sericeus, Baker, (i) Zomba and east end of
Lake Chilwa, Meller ; Buchanan.
Lonchocarpus s'p^. (i) Buchanan.
Deguelia Stuhimanttt, Taub. (1) Buchanan.
Baphia racemosa^ Hochst. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Baphia sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Osmosia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Swarisia madagascariensis^ Desv. (i) Maravi country Kirk ; Buchanan.
Cordyla africana^ Lour, (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
Cassia abbre^fiaia, Oliv. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; west shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk;
Buchanan.
C. petersiana, C. Bolle. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller; Blantyre, Last; Buchanan;
Zomba and Chiradzulu, Whyte.
C. didymobotrya^ Fresen. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; (2) Carson.
C. Grantii, Oliv. (i) Maravi country. Kirk.
C. Tora, L. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
C. Kirkii, Oliv. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk and Meller ; Buchanan.
C. mimosoides, L. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
C. occidentalism L. (i) Buchanan.
C. AbsuSy L. (1) Buchanan.
C. goratensis^ Fresen. (2) Carson.
Cassia ^p, (i) Buchanan.
Bauhinia fassoglensis, Kotschy. (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; Buchanan.
B. Kirkii, Oliv. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
B. Serpae, Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
B. petersiana^ Bolle. (i) Mafianja hills. Waller; Buchanan; Mlanje, McClounie ; (2)
Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
B, reticulata^ DC. (1) Shire River, Meller ; Buchanan.
Bauhiniasp. (i) Buchanan.
Afzclia cuanzeiisis^ Welw. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Afzelia sp. (2) Carson.
Ctyptostpalum inara7>iensi\ Oliv. (1) Maravi country, Kirk ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Cryptoscpalum sp. (i) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 245
Leguminosae.
Brachyste^fa appendiculata^ Benth. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Kirk ;
(2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
B, globiflora^ Benth. (i) Shire Highlands, Whyte.
B. longifoliay Benth. (i) Buchanan.
B.floribunda^ Benth. (i) Buchanan.
Tamarindus indica^ L. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan ;
(4) up the Zambezi to the Batoka country, Kirk.
Copaifera coleosperma^ Benth. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Burkea africana^ Hook, (i) Buchanan.
Trachylobium sp. Shire Highlands, Johnston.
Erythrophleum guineense^ Don. (i) Buchanan.
Parkia Jilicoideay Welw. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Entada abyssinica^ Steud. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Entada spp. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller ; Buchanan.
Piptadenia Buchanam\ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Piptadenia sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Tetrapleura andongensis^ Welw. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Neptunia oleracea^ Lour, (i) Shire River, Kirk.
Dichrosiachys nutans^ Benth. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
D. nyassana, Taub. (i) Buchanan.
Acacia nigrescens, Oliv. (1) Shire River, Kirk.
A.pennata, Willd. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk.
A, lasiopetala^ Oliv. (i) M'pemba hill, Kirk.
A, albida^ Del. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
A, Kirkii^ Oliv. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
A, Seyal^ Del. (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
A,fastigiatay Oliv. (i) Buchanan.
Acacia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Calliandra s^, (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Albizzia anthelmintica^ A. Brongn. (i) Shire River, Meller.
A. Lebbek^ Benth. (i) Buchanan.
A. versicolor^ Welw. (i) Maravi country. Kirk.
A.fastigiata^ E. Mey. (i) Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte.
Rosacea E,
Parinarium Mobola, Oliv. (1) Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country; Kirk.
P, capense^ Harv. (4) Sesheke, Kirk.
Pygeum africanum, Hook. fil. (i) Foot of Chiradzulu, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Rubus apetalus^ Poir. (1) Foot of Chiradzulu, Kirk ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
/?. huillensis^ Welw. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Rubus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Alchemilla sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Ciiffortia linearifolia^ Eck. et Zeyh. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Cliffortia sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Saxifragaceae.
C horisty lis shire nsis^ Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Crassulaceae.
Tillaea pentandra, Royle. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte; Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan.
T. aquiiticiiy L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
246
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Crassulaceae.
Crassula globularioides^ Britten, (i) Chiradzulu, Meller; Mlanje, Whyte.
C abyssinica^ A. Rich, (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Crassula spp. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan.
Kalanchoe platysepala^ Welw. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk.
K, pilosa, Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
. K, coccinea^ Welw. (i). Mananja hills, Meller.
Kalanchoe spp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Cotyledon sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Droseraceae.
Drosera rameniacea, Burch. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
D, affimsj Welw. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Hamamelideae.
Myrothamnus flabellifolia^ Welw. (i) Mlanje, Whyte; Buchanan.
COMBRETACEAE.
Terfninalia nyassensisy Engl, (i) Buchanan.
Terminalia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Combretum holosericeum, Sond. (1) Chiradzulu, Kirk.
C. laurifoliuffiy Engl, (i) Buchanan.
C, tomentosutriy Don. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
C. oatesiiy Rolfe. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
C. mweroense, Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
C. spUndens^ Engl, (i) Buchanan.
Combretum spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Myrtaceae.
Eugenia cordata^ Laws, (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
E. owariensis^ P. Beauv. (i) Buchanan.
Eugenia spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
M ELASTOM ACEAE.
Antherotoma Naudini, Hook. fil. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Nutt.
Dissotis phaeotricha^ Hook. fil. (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
D, Melleri, Hook. fiL (i) Chiradzulu and Mananja hills, Meller ; Zomba, Kirk.
D. princepSf Triana. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk; Mlanje, Chiradzulu, and
Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
D. incanay Triana. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
D. johnstoniann, Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
D. cryptantha^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Dissotis spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Tristemma sp. (2) Carson.
Osbeckia Antherotoma^ Naud. (1) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron.
Osbeckia spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Lythraceae.
Rotalajiliformis^ Hiern. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Nesaea heptamera, Hiern. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller.
N.floribunda, Sond. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Ammannia salicifolia^ Monti. (2) Carson.
A. senega iensis^ Lam. (i) Buchanan.
Ammannia sp. (2) Carson ; (4) Menyharth.
Heteropyxis natalensis^ Haw. (i) Buchanan.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 247
Onagraceae.
Epilobium sp. (2) Carson.
Jussiaea pilosa, H. B. K. (1) Shire Valley, Kirk; Upper Shire, Scott-Elliot.
/. villosa^ Lam. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
J lini/olia, Vahl. (i) Upper Shire, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
Ludwigia prostratuy Roxb. (i) Buchanan.
L. parvi/olia^ 'Roy^y, (i) Buchanan.
L, jussiaeoidesy Lam. (i) Buchanan.
Trapa bispinosa^ Roxb. (i) Shire River, Kirk; Blantyre, Last ; Lake Nyasa, Laws(.^).
Halorageae.
Myriophyllum sp. (i) Lake Nyasa, Laws.
Samydaceae.
Homalium africanujn^ Benth. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Turneraceae.
Wortnskioldia longepedunculata^ Mast. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Waller;
Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) North Nyasa,
L. Scott ; Carson ; var. integrifolia^ Urb., Blantyre, Last.
W, lobata^ Urb. (i) Buchanan.
Passifloreae.
Tryphostemma apetalum^ Baker fil. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Tryphostetnma sp. (i) Mlanje, Scott- Elliot.
Modecca striata^ Mast, (i) Murchison Falls, Meller.
Modecca sp. (i) Buchanan.
Cucurbitaceae.
Trochomeria macrocarpa^ Hook. fil. (i) North of Chiradzulu, Kirk.
Adenopus breviflorus^ Benth. (i) Elephant Marsh on Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Luffa aegvptiaca^ Miller, (i) Buchanan.
Luffa sp. (2) Carson.
Lagenaria sp. (i) Buchanan.
Momordica Charantia^ L. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan.
M, Morkorray A. Rich. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
M.foetiday Schum. et Thonn. (1) Zomba, Whyte.
Momordica spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Raphanocarpus Kirkiiy Hook. fil. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Cucumis metuliferus, E. Mey. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
C, Meloy L. (1) Buchanan.
Cucumis spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson.
Zehneria microsperma, Hook. fil. (i) Katunga, Meller.
Zehneria sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Mukia scabrellay Arn. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
Cephalandra sp. ? (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot.
Cienolepis s^.} (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Begoniaceae.
Begonia sp. (1) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson ; Carson.
248 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
FiCOIDEAE.
Mollugo nudicaulis, Lam. (i) Buchanan.
M. GlinuSj A. Rich, (i) Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot
M. Sperf^la^ L. (i) Buchanan y (2) Carson.
M. verticiliaia, L. (i) Buchanan.
Mollugo sp. (i) Buchanan.
Umbelliferae.
Hydrocolyle moschata^ Forst. (i) Chiradzulu, Kirk.
H, asiattca, L. (i) Ruangwa, near Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
Alepidea anatymbica^ Eck. et Zeyh. (i) Sochi, Kirk ; Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ;
(2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson.
Sanicula europaea, L. (i) Buchanan.
Heteromorpha arborescens^ Cham, et Schlecht. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Chiradzulu,
Whyte ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last.
Pimpinella sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Diplolophium zambesiacum^ Hiern. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Physolrichia Buchanani, Benth. (1) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Zomba, Kirk.
Physotrichia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Peucedanum fraxinifolium^ Hiern. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Chiradzulu, Whyte;
Buchanan.
Peucedanum sp. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
Lefeburia spp. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
Caucalis infesia^ Curt, (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
C melananthuy Benth. et Hook. fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Lower plateau, north of
Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C, pedunculata. Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Caucalis sp. (i) Buchanan.
Araliaceae.
Cussonia spicata^ Thunb. (i) Chiradzulu, Kirk ; Buchanan.
C. Kirkii, Seem, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Cussonia sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Rubiaceae.
Adina microcephala^ Hiern? (i) Buchanan.
Hymenodictyon Kurria^ Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
H.parvifoliumy 0\\y, (i) Buchanan.
Crossopieryx kotschyana, Fenzl. (i) Buchanan.
Pentas purpurea^ Oliv. (i) Mananja hills, Sochi and Mbami, Kirk; Buchanan ; Mlanje
and Chiradzulu, Whyte.
P. camea, Benth., var. Klotsschii, Scott-Elliot, (i) Buchanan.
P, longiflora^ Oliv., var. nyassana, Scott-Elliot, (i) Buchanan : Mlanje, McClounie ;
Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Lower plateau, north ot Lake Nyasa, J Thomson ; Carson.
P. confertijolia^ Baker. (2) Carson.
/*. modes ta^ Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Pentas spp. Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Otomeria di/ala, Hiern. (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte.
Otomeria sp. {Pentas spcciosa^ Baker), (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last.
Otomeria sp. (2) Carson.
Hedyotis spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 249
RUBIACEAE.
Pentodon decumbens, Hochst. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Oldenlandia trtnervia^ Retz. (i) Buchanan.
O. echinulosa^ K. Schum. (i) Buchanan.
O. giobosa, Hiern. (i) Buchanan.
O. corymbosay L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
O, macrophylla^ DC. (i) Buchanan.
O. macrodonia. Baker. (2) Carson.
O. effusa^ Oliv. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron.
O. Heyneiy Oliv. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Carson.
O. Bojeri, Hiern. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
O. ienuissima, Hiern. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
O, oliverianoy K. Schum. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
O. hedyotoidesy Boiss. (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot.
O, lancifolia^ Schweinf. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
O. virgata^ DC. (2) Carson.
Oldenlandia spp. (i) Buchanan; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; Blantyre, Last; (2)
Carson.
Mussaenda arcuata^ Poir. Mananja hills, Waller ; Kanjanje, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Shire
Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Nutt.
Mussaenda sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Sab:'cea %^,1 (i) Buchanan.
Heinsia jasminiflora^ DC. (1) Shire River, Kirk; Blantyre, Last.
H. benguelensisy Welw. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Heinsia sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Rertiera sp. ? (4) Menyharth.
Leptactina sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Chomelia Buchananii^ K. Schum. (1) Buchanan.
Randia Buchananii^ Oliv. ( i ) Zomba, Whyte.
Randia spp. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Kirk ; (2) Nutt.
Gardenia Thunbergia, L. fil. (1) Lake Chilwa, Meller; Mananja hills, Waller;
Buchanan.
G. resiniflua^ Hiern. (1) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
G, Manganjae^ Hiern. (i) Mananja, Meller ; Chiradzulu, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Gardenia sp. (i) Near Lake Chilwa, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Oxyanlhus s\i.} (i) Buchanan.
Zygoon graveolensy Hiern. (i) Shire rapids, Kirk.
Empogona Kirkii^ Hook. fil. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Tricalysia Nyassae^ Hiern. (1) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
T, jasminiflora^ Benth. et Hook. fil. (i) Lower Shire, Kirk; Mananja hills, Meller;
Buchanan.
T. Kirkiiy Hiern. (1) River Shire, Kirk.
Tricalysia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Pentanisia Schweinf urthii, Hiern. (2) Nutt; Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
Thomson.
Pentanisia spp. (i) Buchanan; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Cremaspora africana, Benth. (i) Buchanan.
C, coffeoidesj Hemsl. (i) Ruo River, Johnston.
C heterophylla, K. Schum. (i) Buchanan.
Polysphaeria lanceolata^ Hiern. (2) Karonga and Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Polysphaeria s^^. (i) Buchanan; (4) Menyharth.
Canihium foetidunty Hiern. (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk.
250 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
RUBIACEAE.
Canthium sanquebaricum^ Klotzsch. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
C. lanciflorumy Hicrn. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Victoria Fails, Kirk.
C, Guensiiy Sond. (1) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Canthium spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; (4) Menyharth.
Plecironia sp. (2) Carson.
Van^ieria velutina, Hiern. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; Buchanan; (4) Batoka
country. Kirk.
V. edulis, Vahl. (i) Buchanan.
V. infausta^ Burch. (i) Buchanan.
Vangueria sp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Fadogia ancylantha^ Schweinf. ( i ) Buchanan.
F. trtphylia, Baker. (2) Carson.
Fadogia spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot and J.
Thomson ; Carson.
Craterispermum iaurinum, Benth. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Ixora laxiflora, Sm. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Ixora sp. (i) Buchanan.
Coffea arabica, L. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Pavetta gracilis, Klotzsch. (i) Mafianja hills, Kirk; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot;
(4) Menyharth.
P, Baconia, Hiern. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-EUiot.
P, schumanniana, Ferd. Hoffm. (i) Buchanan.
P, canescens, DC. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Pavetta sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Zomba and Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Psychotria hirtella, Oliv. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Psychotria sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Grumilea Kirkii, Hiern. (i) Zomba, Kirk.
Siphomeris foetens, Hiern. (i) Shire Rapids, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Otiophora sp. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Anthospermumwhyteanum^ Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
A. lanceolatum, Thunb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Anthospermum sp. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Paederia foctida, L. (1) Buchanan.
Sperinacoce senensis, Hiern. (i) Near Sochi, Kirk.
S, dibrachiaia, Oliv. (i) Mananja hills. Kirk and Meller ; Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte;
Blantyre, Last.
.V. stricta, L. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Spennacoce spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson;
Nutt.
Richardia sp. (1) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron.
Rubia cordifolia, L. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron; Buchanan; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Galium Aparine, L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
G. erectum, Huds. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
G, stennphyllum. Baker. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
G. Mollugo, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Galium spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-EUiot ; Carson.
Vi^LERIANACEAE.
Valeriana capensis, Thunb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 251
DiPSACEAE.
Cephalaria ceniauroides, Rocm. et Schult. (i) Between Mbami and Sochi, Kirk;
Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott- Elliot.
Cephalaria sp, (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Scabiosa Columbaria^ L. (i) Blantyre, Last; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Buchanan;
(2) Upper and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
COMPOSITAE.
Gutenbergia polycephala^ O. et H. (i) Lake Chilwa, Kirk.
Bothriocline Schimperi^ O. et H. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte ;
Buchanan.
B. laxa, N. E. Br. (i) Blantyre, Last.
Vemonia marginatay O. et H. (i) Shire River, Stewart ; Buchanan ; Zomba and Chirad-
zulu, Whyte ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
V, purpurea, Sch. Bip. (i) Chiradzulu, Mcller.
V. cistifolia, O. Hoffm., var. rosea^ O. Hoffm. (1) Buchanan.
V. Melleri, O. et H. (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
V. oxyura, O. Hoffm. (i) Buchanan.
V. pteropoda, O. et H. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller and Whyte ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
V. senegalensisy Less, (i) Near Katunga, Meller ; (2) Nutt.
V. glabra^ Vatke. (1) Shire River, Meller; Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Lower
plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
V. shirensis, O. et H. (i) Shire Valley, Meller.
V, oocephala, Baker, (i) Carson.
V, livingstoniana^ O. et H. (1) Mananja hills, Meller ; Shire, Stewart ; Buchanan.
V. podocoma, Sch. Bip. (1) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan.
V, aemulans, Vatke. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
V. cinerascens, Sch. Bip. (i) Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot.
K decumbensy Vatke. (i) Buchanan.
V. cinereay Less. (1) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Carson.
V. naialensis, Sch. Bip. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte.
V. Perottetii^ Sch. Bip. (2) Carson.
V.poskeana, Vatke et Hildebr. (i) Buchanan; Upper Shire, Scott-Elliot; Blantyre,
Last ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
V. subaphylla. Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
V. whyteanay Britten, (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Vemonia spp. (i and 2.) There are'many unnamed specimens in the Herbarium at Kew
from all the botanists who have collected in these two regions.
Elephantopus scaber, L. (i) Buchanan.
Elephantopus sp. (2) Carson.
Adenostemma viscosum, Forst. (i) Buchanan.
Aster sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Ageratum conyzoides^ L. (i) Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Eupatorium africanumy O. et H. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
Mikania scandens^ Willd. (i) Murchison Falls, Meller ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu and
Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
Dicrocephala lati/olia, DC. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Felicia abyssinica^ Sch. Bip. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Felicia sp. (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Erigeron sp. (2) Nutt.
Microglossa volubilis^ DC. (1) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Nidorella microcephala, Steetz. (1) Shire Valley, Meller; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte;
Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
252 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
COMPOSITAE.
Ntdorella sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Cony za per sicifoUay O. et H. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
C variegata, Sch. Bip. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
C, Hochstetteriy Sch. Bip. (i) Buchanan.
C. aegypiiaca, Ait. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Conyza spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Psiadia sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Blumea lacera^ DC. (i) Zomba, Whyte; Buchanan; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
Scott- Elliot.
Blumea sp. (i) Buchanan.
Laggera brevipes^ O. et H. (i) Sochi, Kirk.
L. alata^ Sch. Bip. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Denekia capensis, Thunb. (4) Batoka country,. Kirk.
Sphaeranthus hirtus^ Willd. ( 1 ) Buchanan.
Sphaeranthus sp. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron ; (2) Carson ; Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; (4) Menyharth.
Amphidoxafilaginea^ Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Achyrocline batocanay O. et H. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
A, Hochstetieri, Sch. Bip. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Mlanje, Whyte.
A. Schimperi, Sch. Bip. (1) Mananja hills, Meller ; Mlanje, Whyte.
Gnaphalium Steudelii^ Sch. Bip. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
(7. luteo-album, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Gnaphalifim sp. (i) Buchanan.
Helichrysum pachyrhizum^ Harv. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
H, auriculatum, Less, (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Shire, Stewart; Zomba, Whyte;
Buchanan ; Katunga, Kirk.
H, Kirkii^O. et H. (i) Maiianja hills, Meller; Sochi, Kirk; Shire, Stewart; Maravi
country (?) Kirk ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
H. nitensy O. et H. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller ; Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Blantyre,
Last ; Buchanan.
H. argyrosphaerum, DC. (i) Maravi country. Livingstone and Kirk.
H. globosum^ Sch. Bip. (i) Buchanan.
H. gerberaefoliuniy Sch. Bip. (i) Sochi,, Kirk ; Shire River, Stewart ; Mlanje, Whyte.
//. Pelersii, O. et H. (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk.
If, oxyphyllum, DC. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller.
H. cymosum, D. Don. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan.
H. Buchananiiy Engl, (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; Mlanje, McClounie; Blantyre,
Last ; Buchanan.
H. nudiflorum^ Less, (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
H. whyteanum^ Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
H. milanjiense, Britten. (1) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
H. densiflorum^ Oliv. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
H. latifolium^ Less, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
H, undaium^ Less, (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, L. Scott.
H. Lasttiy Engl, (i) Zomba, Whyte.
H.foetidum, Cass. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Helichrysum spp. (1) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Mlanje, McClounie;
Blantyre, Last and L. Scott; (2) Upper and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Athrixia rosmanni/oh'a, O. et H. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller; Zomba, Mlanje, and Chiradzulu,
Whyie ; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES
253
COMPOSITAE.
Inula (^lomerata, O. et H. (i) Sochi, Kirk ; Buchanan.
/. shirensis, Oliv. (1) Buchanan.
Inula spp. (i) Buchanan.
Bojeria vestita, Baker. (2) Carson.
Geigeria Zeyheri^ Harv. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Sphacophyllum Lastii^ O. Hoffm. (1) Blantyre, Last.
5. Kirkii, Oliv. (i) Zomba, Kirk.
AnisopappHs africanuSy O. et H. (1) Buchanan.
Anisopappus sp. (2) Carson.
Ambrosia sp. (2) Carson.
EcUpta erecta, L. ( i ) Buchanan.
Epallage deniata, DC. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Blainvillea gayana^ Qd&s. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Blainvillea sp. (i) Buchanan.
Aspilia Kotschyi, Benth. et Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan.
Aspilia spp. (i) Shire Highlands and Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu,
Whyte ; (2) Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson ; Nutt.
Melanthera abyssinica^ O. et H. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
M. Browmi, Sch. Bip. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
SpUanthes Acmella^ L. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Spilanthes sp. (2) Nutt.
Siegesbeckia abyssinica^ O. et H. (i) Buchanan.
Guizotia btdenloides, O. et H. (i) Mafianja hills. Kirk.
Guisotia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Coreopsis Sleppia^ Steetz. (i) Mafianja hills, Kirk; Chiradzulu, Whyte; Buchanan;
(2) Carson.
C, Grantii^ Oliv. (2) Carson.
Coreopsis spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Bidens lineariloba, O. et H. (2) Carson.
B. pHosa, L. (i) Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of
Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Bidens sp. (2) Carson.
Chrysanthellum procumbenSy Pers. (i) Buchanan.
Jaumea sp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Gynura cemua^ Benth. (i) Zomba and Chiradzulu, Whyte; Mananja hills, Meller ;
Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot ; Lower
plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson.
G. amplexicaulis^ O. et H. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
G. crepidioides, Benth. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
G, vitellina^ Benth. (2) Carson.
Gynura spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Gongrothamnus divaricatus, Steetz. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk and Meller.
Cineraria kilimanscharica^ Engl. ( 1 ) Mlanje, Whyte.
Cineraria spp. (i) Buchanan.
Emilia sagittata^ DC. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Shire Valley, Kirk ; Blantyre, Last ;
(2) Carson.
E, iniegri/olia, Baker. (2) Nutt; Carson; Lower plateau north of Lake Nyasa, J.
Thomson.
Emilia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Senecio bupleuroidesy DC. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Sochi, Kirk; Buchanan.
S, cyaneus^ O. Hoffm. (i) Buchanan.
254 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
COMPOSITAE.
Senecio deltoideus. Less, (i) ? Mpatamanja, Kirk ; Buchanan.
S. subscandens, Hochst (i) Murchison Falls, Mcllcr.
S. mweroensiSf Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
S. lasiorhisus, DC. (i) Mlanje, McClounie and ? Whyte.
5. lati/olius, DC. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
.S'. auriculatisstmus, Britten, (i) Zomba and Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
.V. whyUanusy Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Semcio spp. (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Chiradzulu, Whyte; (2)
Nutt ; Carson.
Othonna whyteana^ Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Tripteris monocephala^ O. et H. (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
Osteospermum moniliferum^ L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Haplocarpha scaposa, Harv. (i) Sochi, Kirk ; (2) Carson.
Gazania serrulaia, DC. (i) Sochi, Kirk.
Gazania sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Berkheya Zeyheri^ Sond. et Harv. (i) Kanjanje, Kirk; Buchanan; (2) Upper plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
B.johmtoniana, Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
/?. subulata^ Harv. (i) Zomba, Kirk ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
Berkheya sp. (2) Carson.
Carduus Uptacanthus, Nees. (i) Buchanan.
Pleiotaxis p7ilcherrima^ Steetz. (2) Carson.
Pleiotaxis sp. (2) Carson.
Erythrocephalum zambesiacimu, O. et H. (i) Shire Valley, Waller; Mafianja country,
Kirk ; Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; Mlanje and
Zomba, Whyte.
Erythrocephalum spp. (2) Carson ; Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Phyllactinia Graniii, Benth. (2) Carson.
Dicoma Kirkii^ Harv. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
D. sessiliflora^ Harv. (i) Lake Chilwa, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
D. anomalay Sond. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
D. tomentosay Cass. (4) Menyharth.
D. quinquevttlnera^ Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Gerbera abyssinica, Sch. Bip. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie; Zomba, Whyte;
Buchanan.
G. piloselloides^ Cass. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Buchanan; (2) Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Gerbera spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Buchanan; (2) Nyasa- Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-Elliot ; Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Tolpis abyssinicay Sch. Bip. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
Crepis sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
Lactuca abyssinica, Fresen. (i) Buchanan.
L. capensis^ Thunb. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
luictuca sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie; (2) Carson.
Sonchus Bipontini^ Aschers. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
S. Schwehtfurthn, O. et H. (i) Buchanan.
S. rarifoliusy O. et H. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller.
S. oieraceusj L. (i) Buchanan.
Sonchus spp. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie.
Lobelia triillifolia^ Hemsl. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 255
Caaipanulaceae.
Lobelia MelUri^ Hemsl. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
L, Nyassaey Engl, (i) Buchanan.
L. nuday Hemsl. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
L./ervenSy Thunb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
L. natalensisy A. DC. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
L. coronopifolia^ L. (1) Mlanje, McClounie ; Zomba, Whyte.
Lobelia spp. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Blantyre, Last ; (2) Carson ; Nutt ; Upper
and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Cephalostigma hirsuium^ Edgw. (i) Near Katunga, Meller.
Sphenoclea seylantca, Gaertn. (4) Menyharth.
Lightfootia abyssinica, Hochst. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ;
Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Nutt.
L. arenaria, A. DC. (i) Blantyre, Last.
Lightfootia^ ^Y^, (i) Buchanan; (2) Upper and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Wahlenbergia oppositifolia, A. DC. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
W. virgata^ Engl, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
Wahlenbergia spp. (1) McClounie ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Vacciniaceae.
Vaccinium africanum, Britten. (1) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Ericaceae.
Agauria salici/olia, Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Erica johnstoniatuiy Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
E, whyteana, Britten. ( i ) Mlanje, Whyte.
Erica sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Mlanje, McClounie ; Buchanan.
Blaeria setulosa^ Welw. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
B. microdonta^ Wright. (1) Mlanje, McClounie.
Blaeria sp. (i) Blantyre, Last.
Philippia tnilanjieftsis, Britten et Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
P. benguellensiSy Welw. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Philippia spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Ericinella Mannii^ Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan.
Plumbaginaceae.
Plumbago zeylanica^ L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Primulaceae.
Anagallis quartiniana, Engl, (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Anagallis sp. (2) Carson.
Myrsineae.
Maesa lanceolata^ Forsk. (1) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Maesa sp. (i) Buchanan.
iXfyrsine africana, L. (i) Mlanje, McClounie; Buchanan.
Ardisia sp. (1) Buchanan.
256 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Sapotaceae.
Chrysophyllum magalismontanum^ Sond. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
C. Stuhlmannii^ Engl, (i) Buchanan.
Chrysophyllum spp. (1) Buchanan.
Sideroxylon brevipes. Baker. (2) North end of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Mimusops Mochisiay Baker. ' (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
M. Kirkii^ Baker, (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk.
M. Buchananiiy Engl, (i) Buchanan.
Ebenaceae.
Royena pallens, Thunb. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; (4) Sesheke, Kirk.
R. whyteana^ Hiern. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Royena sp. (i) Buchanan.
Euclea Divinorum^ Hiern. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
E, multiflora^ Hiern. (4) Menyharth.
Euclea sp. (i) Buchanan.
Maba spp. (i) Buchanan.
Diospyros shtrensis, Hiern. (1) Fort Johnston and River Ruo, Scott-Elliot.
D. batokana, Hiern. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Diospyros sp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Oleaceae.
Jasminium stetiolobum, Harv. (1) Mananja hills, Meller; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot;
Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
/. brachyscyphum^ Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie.
/. Walleri, Baker, (i) Maiianja hills, Waller.
/. maurittanunty Bojer. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson ; (4)
Sesheke, Holub.
/. microphyllumy^2\itx, (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
/ Kirkii, Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Jasminium spp. (i) Buchanan.
Schrebera Buchanani, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
.S". alaia^ Welw. (i) Buchanan.
S, golungensisj Welw. (4) Menyharth.
Schrebera sp. (i) Buchanan.
Salvadoraceae.
Salvadora persica^ L. (1) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Azima spp. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
Apocynaceae.
Landolphia Kirkii^ Dyer, (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Landolphia s^. (i) Buchanan.
Carissa Arduina, Lam. (i) Buchanan.
C eduliSfVahl. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller; Chiradzulu, Whyte and Kirk;
(4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Diplorrhynchus mossatnbicensisy Benth. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
D. psilopusy Welw. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Rauwolfia caffra^ Sond. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja and Katunga, Kirk.
Holarrhena febrifuga^ Klotzsch. (i) Buchanan ; Maiianja hills, Meller ; west side of Lake
Nyasa, Kirk ; Zomba, Whyte ; Lake Chilwa, McClounie ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-EUiot.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 257
Apocynaceae.
Tabemae montana stapfiana^ l^nittn. (i) Mlanje, VVhyte.
T, ventricosay Hochst. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
71 elegans, (i) River Ruo, Johnston.
Voacanga africana^ Stapf. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ;
Buchanan.
Strophanthus Kombe^ Oliv. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; (4) Victoria Falls,
Kirk.
S, ecaudatusy Rolfe. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Strophanthus sp. (2) Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott- Elliot.
Mascarenhasia variegata^ Britten et Rendle. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
A(Unium multiflorum^ Klotzsch. (i) Near Metope, L. Scott.
ASCLEPIADACEAE.
Cryptolepis obtusa^ N. E. Br. (1) Lower Shire Valley, Meller ; (4) Menyharth.
C, Welwitschii^ Schlechter. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Cryptolepis sp. (i) Mananja hills and west shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk; Shire Highlands,
Scott-Elliot.
Raphionacme grandiflora^ N. E. Br. (1) Blantyre, Last.
/?. longifolia^ N. E. Br. (i) Mafianja hills. Kirk.
Secamone zambesiaca^ Schlechter. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Chiromo, Scott-Elliot.
Taccazia Kirkity N. E. Br. (4) Menyharth.
Chlorocodon Whytei^ Hook. fiL (1) Buchanan.
Daemia extensa^ R. Br. (i) Shire Valley, Meller; Buchanan.
D. barbatUy Klotzsch. (4) Menyharth.
Xysmalobitim spurium^ N. E. Br. (i) Buchanan.
X, Carsonty N. E. Br. (2) Carson.
X. bellumy N. E. Br. (i) Buchanan; Mananja hills, Kirk; Shire Highlands, K. C.
Cameron ; (2) Carson.
X. reticulatum, N. E. Br. (1) Buchanan.
X.fraternum, N. E. Br. (i) Blantyre, Last.
Xysmalobium sp. (2) Carson.
Schizogiossum connaiuniy N. E. Br. (2) Carson.
. elatutfty K. Schum. (i) Buchanan.
S. shtrenscy N. E. Br. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk and Waller.
S, Nyasacy Britten et Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
5". barbatuniy Britten et Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
S, erubescensy Schlechter. (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot.
Schizogiossum sp. (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
Asclepias spectabilisy N. E. Br. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; Magomera, Waller.
A, conspicnuy N. E. Br. (2) Carson.
A, fruticostty L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
. A. amabilisy N. E. Br. (2) Carson.
A. pygmaea, N. E. Br. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
A. reflexay Britten et Rendle. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Waller; Zomba, Meller;
Mlanje, Whyte; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Buchanan; (2) North Nyasa,
L. Scott
A. lineolatay Schlechter. (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot; Shire Valley, Kirk and Waller;
(2) Carson.
A.palustriSy Schlechter. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Mlanje, Scott-Elliot and McClounie.
Asclepias sp. (2) Nutt.
17
258
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
ASCLEPIADACEAE.
Gomphocarpus foliosus^ K. Schum. (i) Mananja hills, Waller; Blantyre, Last; (2)
Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Brachystelma Btuhananiy N. E. Br. (i) Sochi, Chiromo and Mananja, Scott-Elliot ;
Buchanan.
Cynanchum mossambicense^ K. Schum. (i) Shire Rapids, Kirk.
Margaretta distincta, N. E. Br. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
M, orbicularis^ N. E. Br. (1) Maravi country. Kirk ; (2) North Nyasa, L. Scott
M, WhyUi, K. Schum. (i) Chiradzulu, MeUer; Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa,
Meller ; Blantyre, L. Scott ; Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whytc ; near Metope, Scott-Elliot
Dregea macrantha^ Kl. (i) Chiromo, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
Gytnnema sylvestre^ R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
Pergularia a/ricana^ N. E. Br. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Sphaerqcodon obiusifolium^ Benth. (i) Buchanan.
Ceropegia constrictay N. E. Br. (2) Carson.
C, debiliSj N. E. Br. (i) Zomba, Buchanan.
Riocreuxia profusa, N. E. Br. (i) Buchanan.
LOGANLACEAE.
Mostuaea Brunonis, F. Didrichs. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
Buddleia salviaefolia^ Lam. (i) Zomba, Kirk and Whyte ; Buchanan.
Buddleia sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Nuxia congested R. Br. (i) Buchanan; Zomba, Whyte; var. A^. tomentosa^ Sond.^(i)
Buchanan ; var. N, dentata^ R. Br. (i) Mananja nills, Meller.
N. sambesina^ Gilg. (i) Zomba, Kirk.
Strychnos dysophyllay Btnih. (i) Buchanan.
S. spitwsay Lam. (i) Mananja hills. Kirk ; Buchanan.
Sirychnos sp. (1) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
AnihocUista zambesiaca^ Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
A, nobilis, Don. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Anthocleista sp. (i) Buchanan.
Gentianaceae.
Exacum sp. (i) Buchanan.
Sebaea brachyphylla^ Griseb. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last
5. crassulaefolia^ Cham, ct Schlecht. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Sebaea sp. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Tachiadenus continentalis^ Baker. (2) Carson.
Chironia purpurascens, Benth. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt
C. laxifioray Baker., (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk.
C. densijlora, Scott-Elliot (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
Chironia sp. (2) Nutt
Faroa salutaris, Welw. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
F. Buchanani, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Swertia Mannii^ Hook. fil. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Swertia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Boragineae.
Cordia abyssinica^ R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
C. Myxay L. (i) Buchanan.
C. Kirkiiy Baker. (4) Menyharth.
C. Rothii^ Roera. et Schult. (4) Menyharth.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 259
BORAGINEAE.
Ehretia divaricata^ Baker, (i) Chiradzulu, Kirk.
Ehretia sp. (4) Menyharth.
Trichodesma zeylanicum^ R. Br. (i) Blantyre, Descamps.
T. physaloides^ A. DC. (i) Zomba and cast end of Lake Chilwa, Meller ; Mananja hills,
Meller ; Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson ;
Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Heliotropium ovaltfolium, Forsk. (1) Shire Valley, L. Scott ; Fort Johnston, Scott-Elliot
N. strigosumy Willd. (i) Buchanan.
H. bracteatuMy R. Br. • (2) North Nyasa, L. Scott.
H. zeylantcunif Lam. (1) Buchanan ; North Nyasa, L. Scott and J. Thomson.
H. indicum^ L. (i) Shire River, L. Scott ; Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Cynoghssum lanceolatum^ Forsk. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ;
(2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Lithospermum crythrocephalmn^ Baker. (2) Carson.
Lobostemon cryptocephalum^ Baker. (2) Carson.
CONVOLVULACEAE.
Argyreia laxifloruy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Lepistemon africanum^ Oliv. (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk ; Lake Nyasa, Simons.
Hewittia bicoior, Wight. (1) Chiradzulu, Whyte; Maiianja hills, Meller; Shire Valley,
L. Scott ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Jacquemoniia capiiata^ Don. (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott.
Convolvulus hyoscyamoides^ Vatke. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C. malvaceus, Oliv. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Mlanje, Whyte; Buchanan;
(2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C, sagittatusy Thunb. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C, Thomsoni, Baker. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Evolvulus alsinoidesy L. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
Ipomoea simplex^ Thunb. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
/. PeS'Hgridis^ L. (4) Menyharth.
/. tanganyikensis. Baker. (2) Carson.
/. discolor^ Baker. (2) Carson.
/. operosa^ Wright, (i) Shire Highlands, Whyte.
/. involucrata^ P. Beau v. (i) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Lpileata^ Roxb. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
/. crassipesy Hook. (1) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Buchanan.
/. chryseides^ Ker. (4) Menyharth.
/. Hanntngiont\ Baker. (2) Carson.
/. Welwitschii, Vatke. (i) Buchanan.
/. angustfolia^ Jacq. (i) Buchanan; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J.
Thomson ; (3) Serpa Pinto ; (4) Menyharth.
/. vagans, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
/. Carsontf Baker. (2) Carson.
/. inconspicua, Baker. (1) Buchanan.
/. eriocarpa^ R. Br. (i) Shire Highlands, V. Scott; Buchanan; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, J. Thomson ; (4) Menyharth.
/. mweroensis^ Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
I. pharbitifomtts, Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
/. simonsianay Rendle. (i) Nyasa, Simons.
/. shirensisy Oliv. (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk ; Buchanan.
/. halleriana, Britten, (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; near Katunga, Kirk.
26o BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
CONVOLVULACEAE.
Ipomoea tambclensis^ Baker, (i) Upper Shire Valley, Kirk.
L obscura^ Koen. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
J. Thomson.
/. Buchanant\ Baker. (1) Buchanan.
/. Lindleyi^ Choisy. (1) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) ? Menyharth.
/. aquatica^ Forsk. (1) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Lpilosa^ Sweet, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
/. Wightii, Choisy. (4) Menyharth.
/. afra^ Choisy. (1) Buchanan.
I, pUrygocauiiSj Choisy. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Lptnnata, Hochst. (1) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
/. palmatay Forsk. (1) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
/. dissecta^ Willd. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
/. kirkiana^ Britten, (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk; Buchanan.
Lfulvicaulisy Boiss. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
SOLANACEAE.
Solanum fwdiflorum, Jacq. (1) Shire Valley, Kirk.
S, nigrum, L. (1) Blantyre, Descamps.
S, schimperianum, Hochst. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
5. Naumannii, Engl, (i) Buchanan.
5. anomalum^ Thonn. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
S. aculeastrum^ Dun. (i) Blantyre, L. Scott ; Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller.
S. Rohrtiy Wright, (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk.
S, chrysoirichum, Wright, (i) Buchanan.
S, acanihocalyx, Klotzsch. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
S. trepidans, Wright, (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott.
Physalis pubescens, L. (i) Blantyre, Descamps.
P, peruviana, L. (i) Blantyre, L. Scott.
Capsicum conoides. Mill. (4) Sesheke, Kirk.
Datura alba, Nees. (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Mafianja hills, Meller.
SCROPHULARIACEAE.
Diclis ovata, Benth. (1) Mandala, Scott-Elliot.
D. tenella, Hemsl. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Halle ria lucida, L. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
H. elliptica, Thunb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Chaenostoma sp. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Mimulus gracilis, R. Br. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller ; Buchanan.
Craierostigwa pianlagineum, Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
Torenia pan'iflora^ Hamilt. (2) North of Lake Nyasa, L. Scott.
Vandcllia lobelioides, Oliv. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
Ilysanthes sp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Valley, L. Scott ; (2) Nutt.
Alectra melampyroides, Benth. (i) Mbami, near Blantyre and Mananja hills-. Kirk;
Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Alectra, sp. (i) Buchanan.
Aulaya obtusifolia, Benth. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron.
lUichncra quadrifaria, Baker. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ;
Carson ; Nutt.
B. Liistii. Engl, (i) Blantyre, Last.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 261
SCROPHULARIACEAE.
Buchnera spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan; Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte ;
(2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Striga elegansy Benth. (i) Blantyre, Last.
S. coccinea^ Benth. (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk; Buchanan.
.S\ Forbesuy Benth. (i) Shire Highlands, Meller.
.S'. orobanchoides^ Benth. (2) North of Lake Nyasa, L. Scott ; Carson.
Striga spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) North of Lake Nyasa, L. Scott ; Carson.
Rhamphiccxrpa fistulosa, Benth. (2) North of Lake Nyasa, L. Scott.
R, serrata, Klotzsch. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller ; Buchanan.
R, tubulosa, Benth. (1) Mandala, Scott-Elliot.
Rhamphicarpa spp. (i) Mafianja hills, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Cycnium adonense, E. Mey. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; Buchanan; (2) Carson;
Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
C. longiflorum, Eck. et Zeyh. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk; Buchanan; (2) North of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson and L. Scott.
Cycnium spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Sopubia lanata^ Engl. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
S. ramosa^ Hochst. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk ; Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan ;
(2) Carson ; Nutt.
S. dregeana, Benth. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
S, Hildebrandtii, Vatke. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Sopubia spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson; Carson.
Orobanchaceae.
Orobanche cernua^ Loefl. (i) Shire Highlands, L. Scott.
Lentibulariaceae.
Utricularia capensis^ Spreng. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last.
Utricuhiria spp. (i) Buchanan ; Lake Nyasa, Laws ; (2) Nutt ; Carson ; Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; (4) Victoria Falls and Batoka country. Kirk.
Gesneraceae.
Sirepiocarpus caulescensy Vatke. (i) Buchanan.
S. Cooperi, C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
Bignoniaceae.
Tecoma shirensis, Baker, (i) Buchanan.
T. nyassae^ OH v. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Dolichandrone obtusi/olia, Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-Elliot
D. tomentosa^ Benth. (2) Carson.
Stereospermitm kunthianumy Cham, (i) Shire Highlands, Waller; Buchanan; Chirad-
zulu, Meller; West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk; (2) Mweru, Carson; (4) Batoka
country, Kirk.
Kigelia pinnata^ DC. (i) Buchanan.
Pedalineae.
Sesamum angoiense, Welw. (i) Buchanan ; West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Blantyre ;
Last ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
S, indicum^ L. (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
S\calycinum, Welw. (4) Holub.
Ceratotheca sesamoides, Endl. Buchanan; (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott; West shore of
Lake Nyasa, Kirk and Simons ; (2) Carson ; Karonga, L. Scott ; (4) Holub.
Ceratotheca sp. (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
Pretrea zanquebarica, J. Gay. (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller ; (4) Holub.
262 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Selagineae.
Hebenstreitia sp. (4) Holub.
Selago milanjiensis, Rolfe. (i) Mlanjc, Whyte.
S, whyieana^ Rolfe. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Selago spp. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller and Whyte; Mlanje, McClounie; Buchanan; (2)
Lower and Upper plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; (4) Menyharth.
ACANTHACEAE.
Thunbergia kirkiana, T. Anders. (1) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
7". alaia, Bojer. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte; Mananja hills, Kirk and Meller;
(2) Carson.
T. lanci/olia, T. Anders, (i) Blantyre, L. Scott ; Mananja hills and Chiradzulu, Meller;
Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson.
T, obtust/olia, Oliv. (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
T. erecia^fitnih. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; Mananja hills. Waller.
71 oblongtfoliay Oliv. (1) Mananja hills, Waller; Buchanan; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, Scott-Elliot.
7. j«^///a/a, Lindau. (i) Buchanan.
T, mollis^ Lindau. (i) Buchanan.
T. ntanganjensiSy Lindau. (1) Mananja hills. Kirk.
Thunbergia spp. (i) Buchanan; Zomba, Whyte; Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; (2)
Nutt ; Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Nelsonia campestris^ R. Br. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Hygrophila spinosa, T. Anders, (i) Buchanan ; Shire River, Kirk.
H. parvi/loray Lindau. (i) Buchanan.
Mellera lobulaiuy S. Moore, (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller.
Cahphanes spp. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Ruellia prostrata^ T. Anders, (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Lower Shire
Valley, Kirk ; (2) Carson.
Paulo-wilhtlmia sp. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Mananja hills, Meller.
Mimulopsts sesamoideSj S. Moore, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Mimulopsis sp. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Eranthemum senense, Klotzsch. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie ; Mafianja hills. Kirk.
Acanthopale s^, {Dischistocalyx confertijioray Lindau). (i) Buchanan.
Whitjieldia sp. (2) Carson.
Dyschoristey sp. {Calopkanes verticillaris^ Oliv.) (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan;
Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2)jHigber plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Dyschoriste spp. (2) Carson ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Strobilunthes s^. (i) Buchanan.
Phaylopsis parvijlofa, Willd. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Phaylopsis sp. {Micranthus Poggei^ Lindau). (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Blepharis serrulata^ Ficalho et Hiern. (3) Serpa Pinto.
B. iongi/oiiay Lindau. (i) Buchanan.
Blepharis %^^. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Crossandra Greenstockii, S. Moore, (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Mlanje, Whyte and
McClounie ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
C, nilotica^ Oliv. (2) Tanganyika and Mweru, Carson.
C. puberuhiy Klotzsch. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller and Kirk ; Mafianja hills, Meller;
Buchanan.
Crossandra sp. (i) Buchanan.
Barleria Kirkii^ T. Anders, (i) Buchanan.
B, calophyl/oideSy Lindau. (i) Nutt.
B. Prioniiis, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Meller.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 263
ACANTHACEAE.
Barleria spinulosa^ Klotzsch. (i) River Shire, Mellcr and Kirk ; Buchanan.
B, eranthemoides^ R. Br. (1) Buchanan.
Barleria sp. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Crabbeanana^ Nees (C aovalifolia, Ficalho et Hiem.) (3) Serpa Pinto.
Crabbea sp. (i) Buchanan.
Lepidagatkis spp. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Asystasia coromandeliana^ Nees. (1) Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Asysiasia sp. (2) Carson.
Brachystephanus africanusy S. Moore, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Justicia IVhytet, S. Moore. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
/. heterocarpay T. Anders. (2) Nutt.
y. anselliana, T. Anders. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
y. melampyrum, S. Moore, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Justicia spp. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Blantyre, Last ; Shire Highlands and
Lake Nyasa, Scott- Elliot ; (2) Nutt ; Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot
Isoglossa milanjiensisy S. Moore, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Isoglossa sp. (i) Buchanan.
Rhinacanthus communis, Nees. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Rhinacanthus sp. ( 1 ) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Himantochilus marginaius, Lindau. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Dicliptera sp. (i) Buchanan.
Perisirophe bicalyculata, Nees. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Hypoestes verticillaris, R. Br. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
H. phaylopsoides, S. Moore, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
H. Rothii, T. Anders, (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
H, latifolia, H. (i) Buchanan.
Hypoestes spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Verbenaceae.
Laniana salviaefolia, Jacq. (i) Buchanan; Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte; Shire
Highlands, Scott-Elliot; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson;
Carson ; Nutt ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
Lippia nodiflora, A. Rich, (i) Buchanan.
Z. asperi/olia. Rich, (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller ; Chiradzulu, Whyte; (2) Plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Lippia sp. (2) Carson.
Prii'a leptostachya, ]}xss. (i) Buchanan.
Premna senensis, Klotzsch. (i) Buchanan.
Premna sp. (i) Buchanan.
Holmskioldia tettensis, Valke. (i) Banks of Shire River, Kirk.
Vitex milanjiensisy Britten, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; Mlanje and Zomba,
Whyte; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot
K MombassaCy Vatke. (i) Buchanan.
V. paludosay Vatke. (i) River Shire, Kirk; Buchanan; Mafianja hills, Meller; (2)
Karonga, L. Scott.
V, Buchananiiy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
yitex spp. (i) Buchanan ; Lake Chilwa, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Clerodendron tanganyikenscy Baker. (2) Carson.
C. capitatumy Schum. (i) Buchanan; (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J.
Thomson ; Carson.
C. di scalar y Vatke. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
264 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Verbenaceae.
Clerodendron lanceolatum^ Giirke. (4) Menyharth.
C. myricoides^ R. Br. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje and Zomba, Whytc ; Shire Highlands,
Scott-Elliot ; Mananja hills, Meller.
C. spinescens, Giirke. (i) Maravi country, Kirk ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Clerodendron spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Lower Shire Valley, Waller ; Buchanan.
Labiatae.
Ocimum suave^ Willd. (i) Shire Highlands, Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Nutt.
O. affine^ Hochst. (1) Blantyre, L. Scott ; Mlanje, McClounie ; (2) Carson.
Onfilamentosunty Forsk. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
O. cornigerumy Hochst. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
O. hiansy Benth. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
O. bracteosum, Benth. (i) Buchanan.
Ocimum spp. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot, L. Scott and K. C. Cameron ;
(2) Upper and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa.
Acrocepkalus callianthus, Briquet, (i) Buchanan; Chiradzulu, Whyte; Blantyre, Last;
Maiianja hills, Meller.
A. zambesiacusy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
A, caeruleus^ Oliv. (2) Nutt.
Acrocepkalus spp. (1) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Kirk ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson ; Nutt.
Orthosiphon coloratus^ Vatke. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
O, trichodony Baker, (i) Buchanan.
O, Kirkiiy Baker, ined. ex. Britten, in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd Ser. iv., p. 37. (i) Mlanje,
Whyte.
O, Cameroniy Baker. (2) Carson.
Orthosiphon spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Geniosporum affinCy Giirke. ( 1 ) Buchanan.
Moschosma polystachyumy Benth. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
M, ripariumy Hochst. (1) Murchison Falls, Meller; Chiradzulu, Whyte; Last;
Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, L. Scott ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Afoschosfna sp. ( i ) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last.
Coleus umbrosusy Vatke. (i) Blantyre, Descamps.
C leucophyllusy Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
C. punctatusy Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
C. shirensisy Giirke {P leciranthus glandulosus yBnXXtXiy non Hook. fil). (i) Buchanan;
Zomba, Whyte.
Coleus spp. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Carson.
Solenostemon sp. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Aeolanthus NyassaCy Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
A. ukambensisy Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
Aeolanthus spp. (i) Buchanan.
Pycnostachys parvifolia, Baker. (2) Carson.
P, verticillatay Baker. (2) Carson.
P. cyaneay Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
P. pubescensy Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
P, retzculatUy Benth. (2) Carson.
P. urticifolia. Hook, (i) Mafianja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Pycnostachys spp. (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Plectranthus subacauliSy Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 265
Labiatae.
Plectranthus modestus^ Baker. (2) Carson.
PL floribundusy N. E. Br. ; var. longipes^ N. E. Br. (i) Mana»ja hills, Meller ;
Maravi country, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, L. Scott ; (2) Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
PL elegansy Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
PL primulinusy Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
PL sanguineus^ Britten, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
PL beionicaefolius, Baker. (2) Carson ; Nutt
PL densuSy N. E. Br. (2) Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
PL tnanganjensiSy Baker, ined. ex. Britten, in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd Ser. iv., p. 37. (i)
Zomba, Whyte.
Plectranthus sp. {PL Melleri^ Britten, non Baker), (i) Mlanje, Whyte; Chiradzulu,
Meller.
Plectranthus spp. (i) Shire Valley and Mananja hills, Kirk; Buchanan; Last; Shire
Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ;
Carson.
Hoslundia opposita^ Vahl. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte ; Mananja hills, Zomba and
east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller.
Hyptis pectinata^ Poit. (i) Zomba and Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Blantyre, Descamps.
CcUamintha simensis^ Benth. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Micromeria bifloray Benth. (i) Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Micromeria sp. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
Elsholtzia sp. (2) Carson.
Achyrospermum sp. (i) Ndirande Mountain, Buchanan.
Lasiocorys sp. (2) Carson.
Leonitis pallida^ R. Br. (i) Blantyre, Descamps.
Z. nepetaefolia^ R. Br. (2) Carson.
L, Leonurusy R. Br. (2) Carson.
L. velutina^ Fenzl. (i) Buchanan ; Descamps ; Mananja hills, Meller.
Leonitis spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Tinnea sp. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Scutellaria pauci/oliay Baker. (2) Carson ; Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson ; Mweru, Carson.
S. Livingstoneiy Baker, ined. ex. Britten, in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd ser. iv. p. 37. (i)
Mananja hills. Kirk ; Buchanan ; Blantyre, L. Scott ; Zomba, Whyte ; Livingstone ;
(2) Mweru, Carson.
Scutellaria sp. (2) Carson.
Stachys aethiopica^ L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Stachys sp. (i) Buchanan.
Leucas martinicensis, R. Br. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
L, Nyassae^ Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
L. milanjianay Giirke (Z. glabrata, Britten, non R. Br.) (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
JL decadonta, Giirke. (i) Buchanan.
Leucas spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan; (2) Nutt; Carson; Lower plateau,
north of Laice Nyasa, J. Thomson ; (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Nyctagineae.
Mirabilis Jalapa^ L. (i) Shire Valley, Meller; Mananja hills, Kirk.
Boerhaavia repens^ L., var. ascendens, Willd. (i) Buchanan.
B. plumbaginea^ Cav. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
B, Burchellii, Choisy. (i) Shire Valley, Waller.
266 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
ILLECEBRACEAE.
I sp. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Amarantaceae.
Celosia argentea^ L. (2) Carson.
C. Schweinfurihii, Schinz. (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott.
C. irigynay L. (i) Buchanan; Mananja hills, Meller ; Mlanje and Chiradzulu, Whyte ;
Blantyre, Last.
Celosia spp. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Amarantus Blitum, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
A. Thunbergiiy Moq. (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott
A. caudatuSf L. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Mpatamanga, Shire River, Kirk ; (2)JNorth
Nyasaland, L. Scott.
Centema Kirkiiy Hook. fil. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Elephant Marsh, Shire River, L.
Scott ; Buchanan.
Cyathula cylindrica, Moq. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
C. ghbuli/era, Moq. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Mpata-
manga, on Shire River, Kirk.
Pupalia lappacea^ Moq. (i) Buchanan.
Aerua lanatay Juss. (i) Buchanan.
A. javanica^ Juss. (i) Shire Highlands, and throughout the Mananja and Shire hills,
Buchanan, Meller and L. Scott.
Psilotrichum spp. (i) Blantyre, Buchanan and Last ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Achyranthes aspera, L. (i) Blantyre, Descamps ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; (2) Carson ; var.
argentea, Lam. (2) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Achyranthes sp. (2) Carson.
Aliemanthera sessilis^ R. Br. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) North Nyasa, L. Scott.
A, twdtfloray R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
Chenopodiaceae. •
Chenopodium Botrys^ L. (i) Buchanan ; var. C, procerum^ Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
Phytolaccaceae.
Phytolacca abyssinica^ Hofifm. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Polygonaceae.
Oxygonum atriplici/olium, Baker {Centogonu?n atrip licifolium^ Meisn.), var. O, sinu-
aiufn, Engl, (i) Lake Chilwa, Kirk.
Polygonujn Poiretii, Meisn. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
P. plebeium, R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
P. senegalense^ Meisn. (i) Banks of Shire River, Kirk ; (2) North Nyasa, L. Scott.
P. tomentosum, Willd. (i) Buchanan.
P. serrulaturn, Lag. (i) Zomba, Whyte ; (2) Lake Nyasa, L. Scott.
P. barbatum^ L. (i) Buchanan ; Lake Nyasa, Scott-Elliot.
P. tristachyum^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
P. glabrum, Willd. (i) Upper Shire, Scott-Elliot.
P. lanigerum, R. Br. (i) Upper Shire, Scott-Elliot; Lower Shire Valley, Meller;
Lake Chilwa, Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron.
P. lapaihifoliuin^ L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
P. alatum^ Hamilt. (i) Buchanan.
P. strigosuffiy R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
Riimex nepalensis^ Spreng. (i) Buchanan.
A', abyssinicus^ J^cq. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron ; Buchanan.
R. maderensis, Lowe. (2) Carson ; Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 267
PODOSTEMACEAE.
Hydrosiachys polymorpha^ Klotzsch. (i) Tributary of Shire to north-east of Katunga,
Kirk; Blantyre, Last; Buchanan.
Sphaerothylax sp. (i) Blantyre, Last.
PiPERACEAE.
Piper capense, L. fil. (i) Chiradzulu and Zomba, Whyte; Buchanan.
Peperomia reflexa, Dietr. (i) Mlanje, McClounie and Whyte; Zomba, Whyte; Buchanan.
Lauraceae.
Cassytha guineensis^ S. et T. (i) Buchanan.
Proteaceae.
Protea Nyasae, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
P. abyssinica, Willd. (i) Blantyre, L. Scott; Buchanan; (2) Nutt ; (4) Batoka country.
Kirk.
Protea spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan; Katunga, Kirk; (2) Higher plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Faurea speciosa^ Welw. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte.
Faurea sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller; near Chiradzulu, Kirk; Buchanan; (4) Batoka
country, Kirk.
Thymelaeaceae.
Arthrosolenflavus^ Rendle. (1) Mlanje, Whyte ; Blantyre, L. Scott ; (2) Nutt.
A. glaucescenSf Oliv. (2) Carson.
ArthrosoUn spp. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk and Meller ; Last ; Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Gnidia Buchananii, Gilg. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu and Mafianja hills, Meller.
G. microcephala, Meisn. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; Zomba and east end of Lake
Chilwa, Meller.
G, apiculatay Gilg. (i) Buchanan.
G. fastigiatay Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Gnidia spp. (i) Foot of Chiradzulu, Kirk; Blantyre, L. Scott; Sochi, Kirk; Buchanan;
(2) Carson ; Upper and Lower plateaux, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Nutt.
Lasiosiphon spp. (i) Buchanan; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ;
(4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Peddiea longipedicellata, GWg. (i) Buchanan.
Loranthaceae.
Loranihiis mweruensis, Baker. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Loranthus spp. (i) Lower Shire, Meller; Zomba, Kirk; Buchanan; (2) Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson.
Santalaceae.
Thesium nigricans ^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
T. whyteanum^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Thesium spp. (i) Foot of Chiradzulu, Kirk ; Blantyre and Matope, L. Scott ; Buchanan ;
Mlanje, McClounie ; (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Colpoon sp. ( I ) Buchanan.
Osyridocarpus scandens, Engl, (i) Katunga, Kirk.
Euphorbiaceae.
Euphorbia scordi/o/ia, ]2iC(\. (i) Buchanan.
E. sambesiacay Benth. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Buchanan \ Zomba and east end of Lake
Chilwa, Meller ; (2) Mweru, Carson.
E. Grantiiy Oliv. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
268 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
•
EUPHORBIACEAE.
Euphorbia whyteanay Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyle,
E, shtrensisy Baker fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
E. indica^ Lam. (4) Menyharlh.
Euphorbia spp. (i) Above Elephant Marsh and Murchison Falls, Shire River, and
Mananja hills, Meller ; Katunga, Kirk ; west shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Buchanan ;
(2) Karonga, L. Scott ; Carson.
Synadenium Grantii^ Hook. fil. (4) Menyharth.
Synadenium sp. (2) Carson.
Bridelia vticrantha^ Baill. (i) Buchanan.
Bridelia sp. (i) Zomba, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Phyllanthus nummulariaefoliuSy Poir. (i) Blantyre, Last.
P, leucanthusy Pax. (i) Buchanan.
P, maderaspatensis, L. (i) Above Elephant Marsh, on River Shire, L. Scott.
P, hystcracanthuSy Muell.-Arg. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
P. rotundifoliusy Willd. (i) Mlanje, Whyte; var. leucocalyx, Muell-Arg. (i) Mlanje,
Whyte.
Phyllanthus spp. (i) Buchanan; Blantyre, L. Scott; Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Karonga, L
Scott ; Carson ; Nutt ; (4) Menyharth.
Securinega obovata^ Muell.-Arg. (4) Menyharth.
Uapaca nitida, Muell.-Arg. (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
U, kirkiana, Muell.-Arg. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Uapaca spp. (i) Buchanan.
Antidesma spp. (i) Shire River, Kirk ; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Jatropha Curcas, L. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie ; (4) Menyharth.
Jatropha sp. (2) Carson.
Croton macrostachyusy Hochst (i) Buchanan.
Croton spp. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Cluytia richardiana^ Muell.-Arg. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Cluyiia sp. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Caperonia spp. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Buchanan.
Cephalocroton sp. (i) Buchanan.
MifTococca Mercurial is, Benth. (i) Elephant Marsh, on Shire River, L. Scott.
Acalypha benguelensis, Muell.-Arg. (i) Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte.
A, villicaulisy A. Rich, (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte;
Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
A, pHosiachya, Hochst. (i) Mpatamanga, on Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Chiradzulu,
Whyte ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Acalypha spp. (i) Buchanan.
Alchornea sp. (i) Buchanan.
Neoboutinia africana, Muell.-Arg. (l) Zomba, Whyte.
Mallotus Melleriy Muell.-Arg. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan.
Macaranga spp. (i) Buchanan.
Ricinus communisy L. (1) Lower Valley of Shire, Meller.
Tragia mitis, Hochst. (4) Menyharth.
Tragia sp. (i) Shire River above Elephant Marsh, L. Scott.
Dalechampia sp. (1) Lower Shire River, Kirk ; (4) Menyharth.
Maprounea sp. (4) Batoka country, Kirk.
Excoecaria sp. (i) Buchanan.
Urticaceae.
Trema spp. (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk.
Dorstenia Buchananii, Engler. (i) Buchanan.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 269
Urticaceae.
Dorsienia WcUleri^ Hemsl. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Dors tenia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Ficus capreaefolia^ Del. (i) Island in River Shire, near Mbenje, L. Scott.
Ficus spp. (i) Katunga, Shire Valley, L. Scott; Buchanan; Kankanje, Kirk; (2)
Karonga, L. Scott.
Treculia sp. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Myrianthus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Urtica sp. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Fleurya aestuans, Gaudich. (i) Buchanan.
Fleurya sp. (i) Shire Valley, L. Scott ; (4) Menyharth.
Urera sp. (i) Buchanan.
Girardinia heterophylla^ Dene, (i) Buchanan ; Mananja hills, Waller ; Chiradzulu, Kirk.
Girardinia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Pilea sp. (i) Buchanan. .
Boehmeria platyphylla^ Don. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Boehmeria sp. (i) Buchanan.
Pousohia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Pipturus sp. (i) Buchanan.
Myricaceae.
Myrica pilulifera^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Myrica spp. (i) Buchanan.
CER ATOPH Y LLE AE.
Ceratophyllum sp. (i) Blantyre, Last ; Lake Nyasa, Laws.
Hydrocharidaceae.
Lagarosiphon Nyassae, Ridley, (i) Lake Nyasa, Laws.
Vallisneria spiralis, L. (i) Lake Nyasa, Laws.
Ottelia spp. (i) Luangwa, west shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Blantyre, Last.
Burmanniaceae.
Burmannia bicolor. Mast, var. africana, Ridley. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa,
J. Thomson.
Orchidaceae.
Liparis Bowkeri, Harv. (i) Buchanan.
Megaclinium Melleri, Hook. fil. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller ; Mlanje, McClounie.
Eulophia caliickroma, Rchb. fil. (i) Mananja hills, Meller and Kirk ; Zomba, Meller.
£. Nyasae, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
E. aristata, Rendle. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot.
E. praestansy Rendle. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
E. milanjiana, Rendle. (1) Mlanje, Whyte ; Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
E, missioniSy Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Scott-Elliot.
E. Shupangae, Kranz. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk and Waller ; Blantyre, L. Scott ; Zomba,
Buchanan.
E. longesepala, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
E. venulosa^ Rchb. fil. {E, httmilis, Rendle). (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Shire Highlands,
Scott-Elliot.
Eulophia spp. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk, Meller and Waller; Mlanje, McClounie;
Buchanan ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson and H. H.Johnston ; Carson ;
Nutt ; (4) Sesheke, Holub.
Cyrtopera IValleri, Rchb. fil. (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; Buchanan.
270 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Orchidaceae.
Lissochilus microceras, Rchb. fil. (i) Sochi, Kirk ; Mananja hills, Meller.
L, heteroglossus^ Rchb. fil. (i) Upper Shire Valley, Kirk.
L. gradlior^ Rendle. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
L. livingsionianus^ Rchb. fil. (i) Mananja hills. Waller and Meller; Mlanje, Whyte and
McClounie ; between Matope and Blantyre, L. Scott.
Z. arenarius^ Lindl. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk and Meller ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot ;
Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) North of Lake Nyasa, L. Scott ; Carson.
L, Sandersoniy Rchb. fil. (i) Buchanan.
L. papilionaceus^ Rendle. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott- Elliot.
L, Krebsiiy Rchb. fiL (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
L, shirensisy Rendle. (i) Sochi, Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
Z. calopterus, Rchb. fil. (i) Lower Shire Valley, L. Scott.
Z. Wakefieldii, Rchb. fil. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Z. dispersus^ Rolfe. (i) Livingstonia (Collector not known).
Z. brevisepalusy Rendle. (i) Sochi and Ndirande, Scott-Elliot.
Z. milanjianus, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Lissochilus spp. (i) Buchanan; Mananja hills, Waller ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
Carson and J. Thomson ; Mweru, Carson.
Polystachya imbricata, Rolfe. (i) Buchanan.
P, Buchanani^ Rolfe. (i) Buchanan.
P. shirensis^ Rchb. fil. (i) Shire River, Meller.
P. zambesiaca^ Rolfe. (i) Buchanan.
P, lawrenceana^ Kranz. (i) Buchanan.
P, villosa, Rolfe. (i) Buchanan.
P. minima^ Rendle. (i) Sochi, Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Polystachya spp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie, Zomba, Kirk.
Angraecum alcicome^ Rchb. fil. (i) Mlanje ; McClounie ; Shire River, Kirk.
A, chiloschistae^ Rchb. fil. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk ; Blantyre, Last.
A, f negator rhizum^ Rchb. fil. (i) Shire Valley, Kirk and Waller ; Buchanan.
A. verrucosum^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Angraecum sp. (1) Buchanan.
Pogonia spp. (i) Buchanan.
Sienoglotiis s^. (i) Buchanan.
Holothrix Johnstonii^ Rolfe. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Zomba, Whyte.
Holothrix sp. (1) Blantyre, Last ; (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Peristylis hispiduta, 'R&ndie. (i) Buchanan.
Hahenaria zambesina, Rchb. fil. (i) Buchanan.
H, subarmatay Rchb. fil. (i) Katunga, Kirk.
H, sochensisy Rchb. fil. (i) Sochi hill, Kirk.
H. Watleriy Rchb. fil. (i) Maiianja hills and foot of Mlanje, Kirk ; Blantyre, Last.
//. praestansy Rendle. (i) Buchanan; Blantyre, Last.
//, buchananiana, Kranz. (i) Buchanan; Mananja hills. Waller; Mlanje, Scott-Elliot;
(2) Nutt.
Habenaria spp. (i) Carson.
Brachycorythis pleistophylta^ Rchb. fil. (i) Buchanan; Mlanje, McClounie and Whyte;
Sochi, Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot ; Blantyre, Last.
B. pubescensy Harv. (i) Mlanje, Scott-EUiot; Blantyre, Last; Buchanan.
Brachycorythis tenuior^ Rchb. fil. (i) Blantyre, Last ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Satyrium cheirophorum, Rchb. fil. (i) Blantyre, Last.
S. minax, Rchb. fil. (i) Blantyre, Last.
S. Buchanani, Rchb. fil. (i) Blantyre, Last.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 271
Orchidaceae.
Satyrium spp. (i) Mpatamanga and Mananja hills, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Disa hircicomis^ Rchb. fil. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk.
D, Walleri, Rchb. fil. (i) Mananja hiUs, Waller.
D, zontbaensisy Rendle. (i) Zomba, Whyte.
D, hamatopetalay Rendlc. (i) Mlanje, McClounie and Whyte.
Disa spp. (i) Buchanan; Zomba, Kirk; Blantyre, Last; (2) Higher plateau, north of
Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Carson ; Nutt ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Johnston.
SCITAMINEAE.
Kaempferia atthiopica^ Benth. (i) Buchanan; Mandala, Scott-Elliot; Mananja hills,
Meller ; near Blantyre, L. Scott ; (2) Karonga, Carson ; Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
H. H. Johnston.
K. rosea^ Schweinf. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; Lake Nyasa, L. Scott ; Buchanan ;
Lower Shire Valley, Kirk ; Shire Valley, Meller.
Kaempferia sp. (2) Karonga, Carson.
Cadalvenia spectabilis^ Fenzl. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot ; Buchanan ; Blantyre,
Last ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, H. H. Johnston.
Amomum sp. (i) Zomba, Kirk.
Canna indica, L., subsp. C orientalis^ Roscoe. (i) Lower valley of Shire River, Meller.
Musa Buchananiy Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk ; Buchanan.
M, sapientuniy L., var. M. paradisiaca^ L. (i, 2, and 4) abundant
M, livingstonianoy Kurk. (i) Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Haemodoraceae.
Sansevieria Kirkii^ Baker. ( i ), Buchanan.
Cyanastrum sp. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, H. H. Johnston ; Nutt.
ft
IRIDACEAE.
Moraea zambesiaca^ Baker, (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Sochi and Katunga, Kirk ; Zomba,
Buchanan; Mlanje, McClounie; (2) Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, and
between Nyasa and Tanganyika, J. Thomson.
M, angustOy Ker. (2) Carson ; Nutt
M, ventricosaj Baker. (2) Carson.
M. ThoTttsoniy Baker. (2) Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
M, Carsoniy Baker. (2) Carson.
M, iridoidesy L. (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk.
Aristea johnstoniana^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Dierama pendula^ Baker, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McQounie ; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, J. Thomson.
Lapeyrousia erythrantha. Baker. Mananja hills. Waller.
Z. Sandersoniy Baker, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
L, grandiflora^ Baker, (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Z. holostachya^ Baker. (2) Carson.
Crocosma aurea. Planch, (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot
Acidanthera bicolor^ Hochst (i) Buchanan.
Gladiolus unguiculatusy Baker. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, J. Thomson ; Carson.
G, Oatesiiy Rolfe. (i) Mlanje, Whyte; Buchanan.
G, Thomsoniy Baker. (2) Higher plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
G, flexuosusy Baker. (2) Carson.
G, atropurpureus, Baker, (i) Mananja hills. Waller ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
G. Melleriy Baker, (i) Mananja hiUs, Meller and Waller; Katunga and Mpimbi, Kirk;
Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
272 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
IRIDACEAE.
Gladiolus Buchanani, Baker. ( i ) Ndirande, Buchanan.
G. gracillimus^ Baker. (2) Carson.
(J. tritonioides^ Baker. (2) Carson.
G. Hanningtoni^ Baker. (2) Carson ; Nult.
G, zambesiacus^ Baker, (i) Blantyre, Last.
G. oligophlebius^ Baker. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
G. erectiflorusy Baker. (2) Carson.
G. caudatus^ Baker. (2) Carson.
G, brachyandrus^ Baker. (2) Buchanan.
G. quartinianus, A. Rich, (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nult.
Gladiolus spp. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson.
Amaryllidaceae.
Hypoxis villosa, L. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, L. Scott and Scott-EUiot ; Mananja
hills, Meller ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
H, obtusa, Burch. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
H, angustifoliaj Lam. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
Curculigo gallabatensiSy Schweinf. (2) R. Nsessi, L. Scott.
Curculigos^. (i) Buchanan.
Crinum subcemuum^ Baker. ( i ) Shire River, Kirk.
Crinum sp. (4) Menyharth.
Buphane disticha, Herb, (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Shire Highlands, Buchanan and
Scott-Elliot ; (2) between Nyasa and Tanganyika, and upper plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Brunsvigia Kirkii, Baker. (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, Scott-Elliot.
Cyrtanthus Wehvitschii^ Hiern. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
Haemanthus multiflorusy Martyn. ( i ) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
Haemanthus sp. (4) Menyharth.
Pancratium trianthum^ Herb, (i) Shire cataracts, Kirk.
Vellozia splendens, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Vellosia sp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Kirk ;
Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot and Buchanan.
Taccaceae.
Tacca pinnatijida^ L. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-EUiot
DiOSCOREACEAE.
Dioscorea Buchanani^ Benth. ( i ) Buchanan.
D. prehensilis^'QtniYi, (i) Buchanan.
D. schimperiana, Hochst. (i) Mpatamanga, Kirk; Buchanan.
D. dumetorum^ Pax. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; Buchanan.
D. beccariana^ MarteUi, var. vcstita^ Pax. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-
EUiot.
LiLIACEAE.
Dracaena fragransy Ker.-Gawl. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller; Buchanan; Zomba, Whyte.
D. ellipticay Thunb. et Dallm. (i) Buchanan.
Smilax kraussiana, Meisn. (i) Mananja hiUs, Kirk; Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan ; Shire
Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Asparagus virgatus. Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
A. plumosus, Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 273
LiLIACBAE.
Asparagus Paulo-gulielmi, Solms. (i) Shire Highlands, L. Scott.
A, puberuluSy Baker, (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
A, irregularis^ Baker, (i) Foot of Chiradzulu, Kirk.
A, africanus^ Lam. (2) Carson ; Nutt ; (4) Menyharth.
A, asiaticusy L. (4) Menyharth.
A, racemosus^ Willd. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
A. Buchanani^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Asparagus sp. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last
Hylonome reticulatcL, Webb. ( i ) Mlanje, Whyte.
Kniphofia longistyla, Baker, (i) Zomba, Kirk ; Buchanan.
K, zombensisy Baker, (i) Zomba, Buchanan.
Aloe Buchananiy'BzkeT. (i) Buchanan.
A, Nuttii, Baker. (2) Nutt ; Carson.
A, cryptopoda^ Baker. (4) Menyharth.
Eriospermum abyssinicunty Baker, (i) Buchanan; Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot.
E, Kirkiiy Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and L. Scott.
Eriospermum sp. (2) Carson.
Bulbine alooides^ Willd. (i) Chiradzulu, Kirk and Meller.
B, asphodeloidesy Schult. fil. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron, Scott-Elliot and.
Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie.
Anthericum subpeiiolatum^ Baker, (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
A, Nyasae^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
A. milanjianumj Rendle. (1) Mlanje, Whyte.
A. Cameroni, Baker. (2) Carson.
A, nidulans^ Baker, (i) Chiradzulu, Meller.
A, jacquinianum^ Schult. fil. (2) Carson.
Anthericum sp. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Chlorophytum blepharophyllum^ Schweinf. (i) Zomba, Whyte; Fort Johnston, Scott-
Elliot ; Buchanan.
C stenopeialum^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
C, brachystachyum^ Baker. (1) Buchanan.
C, gallabatense, Schweinf. (i) Buchanan.
C, andongense^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
C. pubiflorumy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Chlorophytum spp. (2) Carson ; (4) Menyharth.
Dasystachys drimiopsis, Baker, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Dasystachys spp. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Tulbaghia alliacea^ Thunb. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-Elliot.
Drimia robusta^ Baker, (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Drimia sp. (i) Zomba, Kirk.
Dipcadi longifoliumy Baker, (i) Lower Shire River, Meller.
Hyacinthus ledebourioidesy Baker, (i) Zomba and east end of Lake Chilwa, Meller;
Shire Highlands, L. Scott.
Eucomis zambesiaca^^d^itx, (i) Mbami, Kirk; Buchanan.
Albuca caudaia, Jacq. (i) Mlanje, McClounie ; Shire Highlands, Buchanan^ L. Scott and
Scott-Elliot.
A. Buchanani^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
A, Wakefieldii, Baker. (? i) Lake Nyasa.
Albuca sp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; (4) Menyharth.
Urginea altissima^ Baker {U. maritima^ Rendle, non Baker), (i) Mananja hills, Meller ;
Mlanje, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, L. Scott and Buchanan ; Mpimbi, Kirk ; Zomba,
Whyte ; (2) Carson.
18
274 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
LlLIACEAE.
Ur^nea Nyasae, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
Urginea spp. (i) Mandala, Scott-Elliot; (2) Nutt.
Scilla rigidifolia, Kunth. (2) Upper plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, and between Nyasa
and Tanganyika, J. Thomson.
S, indica^ Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, L. Scott.
5. fnaesia, Baker. (4) Menyharth.
5. Buchananif Baker, (i) Buchanan.
S. sambesiaca^ Baker, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Menyharth.
Scilla sp. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte ; Mlanje, McClounie.
Omithogalum Eckloni^ Schlecht. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott- Elliot ;
Mlanje, Whyte.
Omithogalum sp. (i) Buchanan.
Androcypnbium melanthioideSy Willd. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-Elliot.
Omithoglossum glaucum, Salisb. (i) Blantyre, Last.
Gloriosa super bay L. (i) Mananja hills, Waller.
G. virescensy Lindl. (r) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Menyharth.
G, Carsoni, Baker. (2) Carson.
WalUria Mackenziiy Kirk, (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; Buchanan.
W. nutans^ Kirk, (i) Mananja hills. Waller.
Xyridaceae.
Xyris pauciflora^ Willd. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Xyris spp. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt.
COMMELYNACEAE.
Commelyna benghalensis, L. (i) Buchanan ; (4) Holub.
C. sambesiacay C. B. Clarke. (2) Carson.
C. latifolia^ Hochst. (1) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
C africanuy L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; Zomba and cast end of Lake Chilwa,
Meller ; Zomba, Whyte ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; Nutt
C. involucraia, A. Rich, (i) Blantyre, L. Scott ; Buchanan.
C. Kirkiiy C. B. Clarke, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot; (2) Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau, J. Thomson.
C, Forskalaei, Vahl. (4) Holub.
C Bainesii, C. B. Clarke, var. glabrata, Rendle. ( i ) Zomba, Whyte.
C. Vogelii^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
C, Welwitschii, C. B. Clarke, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
C. nudiflora, L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot
C subulatoy Roth, (i) Buchanan.
C. albescens, Hassk. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Commelyna sp. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
Aneilema sinicum^ Lindl. (i) Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
A. aequinoctiale, Kunth. (i) Buchanan; Chiradzulu, Meller; Shire Highlands, Scott-
Elliot; Mlanje and Zomba, Whyte; var. Kirkii, C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan; var.
adhaerens, C. B. Clarke, (i) Mananja hills, H. Waller.
A. pedunculosum, C. B. Clarke. (4) Menyharth.
A. lanceolatum, Benth. (i) Buchanan.
A, dregeanum^ Kunth. (i) Buchanan.
Cyanotis lanata, Benth. (2) Carson; var. Schiveinfurthiiy C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
Cyanotis sp. (2) Nutt
Floscopa rivularisy C. B. Clarke. (2) Nutt.
F. glomerata, Hassk. (i) Buchanan ; Zomba, Whyte; (2) Carson ; (4) Victoria Falk, Kirk.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 275
Palmae.
Elaeis guineemiSy L. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Borassus flabellifer^ L., var. Aethiopum, Mart, (r) Lower Shire and Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Raphia vinifera, P. de Beauv. (i) Shire Highlands, Kirk.
Hyphaene crinita, Gaertn. (i) Along the Shire River and at south end of Lake Nyasa,
Kirk.
H. ventricosay Kirk. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
PhcBnixs^. (i) Matope, Scott-Elliot ; (4) Central regions, Kirk.
Typhaceae.
Typha angustifolia^ L. (i) Shire River, below Katunga, L. Scott.
Typha sp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
Aroideae.
Stylochiton spp. (4) Menyharth.
Amorphophallus spp. (2) Nsese River, North Nyasa, L. Scott ; (4) Menyharth.
Gonatopus Boiviniif Hook. fil. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk; Mlanje, McClounie ;
Buchanan.
Gonatopus sp. (4) Menyharth.
Alismaceae.
Limnophyton obtusifoliuftiy Miq. (2) Mweru, Carson.
Naiadaceae.
Potamogeton pectinatus^ L. (i) South-western bay of Lake Nyasa, Kirk; Livingstonia,
Laws.
P, obtusifoliusy Mert. et Koch, (i) Zomba, Whyte.
P. longifoliusy Gay. (i) South-western bay of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
P, crispusy L. (i) Ruangwa, Lake NyaJsa, Kirk.
Eriocaulaceae.
Eriocaulon sonderianumy Kom. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Eriocaulon spp. (i) Mananja country and Katunga, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (2) Lower plateau,
north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson ; Nutt.
Restiaceae.
I sp. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Cyperaceae.
Pycreus flavescensy Nees. (2) Nsese River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
P. nigricans^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
P, macranthus, C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
P, Mundtii, C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
P, sulcinux, C. B. Clarke. (2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
P, capillaris, Nees. (i) Buchanan.
P, umbrosus, Nees. (2) Carson.
P. spissiflorusj C. B. Clarke. (2) Mlanje, Whyte.
P. aibofnarginatusy Nees. (i) Buchanan.
Juncellus alopecuroides^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
y. laevigatus, C. B. Clarke, (i) Mananja hills, Meller.
Cyperus nudicaulis, Poir. (i) Lower Shire River, Kirk.
C, compactuSj Lam. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
C. angolensisy Boeck. {Rhynchospora ochrocepkalaf T^otok.) (1) Mlanje, Whyte; Zomba,
Kirk ; (2) Nutt.
C. maKgariiaceuSf Vahl. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson; (3) Serpa Pinto.
276
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Cyperaceae.
Cyperus amabilis^ Vahl. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
C, ienaxy Boeck. (i) Buchanan.
C. Haspan^ L. (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
C sphaerospertnus^ Scbrad. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
C.flabelliformis^ Rottb. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Great Elephant Marsh, Shire River,
L. Scott ; Buchanan.
C. sexangulariSy Nccs. (4) Menyharth.
C Deckeniif Boeck. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
C.fischerianus^ Hochst. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller; Buchanan.
C, ^laucophyllus^Y^otck. (i) Buchanan.
C, longi/oliusy Poir. (i) Buchanan.
C aristatusy Rottb. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto ; (4) Menyharth.
C distans^ L. fil. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson.
C. articulatus^ L. (i) Elephant Marsh, Shire River, L. Scott.
C schweinfurthianus^ Boeck. (2) Carson.
C maculatus^ Boeck. (i) Buchanan; (2) Umbaka and Nsese Rivers, North Nyasa,
L. Scott.
C roiundusy L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
C escuieniuSf L. (i) Buchanan.
C. radialus, Vahl. (i) Great Elephant Marsh, Shire River, L. Scott ; (2) Umbaka River,
North Nyasa, L. Scott.
C. zambesiensis^ C. B. Clarke, ined. in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd Sen iv., p. 53. (i) Mlanje,
Whyte ; Buchanan.
C. exaltatuSy Retz, var. C dives ^ Del. (i) Buchanan; Lower Shire Valley, Meller;
Elephant Marsh, Shire River, Kirk and L. Scott.
Cyperus spp. (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot ; (2) Umbaka
River, North Nyasa, L. Scott ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
Mariscus color atus^ Nees. (i) Buchanan.
M, vesHtus, C. B. Clarke, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
M. sieberianus^ Necs. (i) Buchanan ; Blantyre, Last; Mlanje, Whyte.
M. hemisphaericusy C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan ; Mandala, Scott-Elliot ; Blantyre, Scott ;
Mlanje, Whyte ; Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
M. squarrosus, C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
Mariscus sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Kyllinga pungensy Link. (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
K, elaiior, Kunth. (i) Buchanan.
IC. alba, Nees. (3) Serpa Pinto.
K. auraia, Nees. (2) Nsese River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Kyllinga sp. {Cyperus albiceps, Ridley). (2) Nsese River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Kyllinga s^. (i) Buchanan.
Eleocharis sp. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Fimbristylis dichotoma, Vahl. (2) Karonga and River Nsese, North Nyasa, L. Seott.
F, dip/tylla, VahL ( i ) Buchanan.
F, exilis, Roem. et Sch. (r) Buchanan.
F. africana, C. B. Clarke, (i) Mananja hills, Meller; Buchanan; Shire Highlands,
Scott-Elliot.
F. zambesiaca, Dur. et Schinz. (i) Sochi, Kirk; Blantyre, L. Scott; Kampala, Shire
Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
Bulbostylis schoenoides, C. B. Clarke, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
B, cinnamomeay Dur. et Schinz. (i) Buchanan.
B. sphaerocarpusy C. B. Clarke. (3) Serpa Pinto.
B. capillaris^ Kunth. (i) Blantyre, Last.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 277
Cyperaceae.
Bulbostylis fiusilluj Dur. et Schinz. (2) Nutt.
B. Burchellii, Dur. et Schinz. (i) Blantyre, Last ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
B. abortiva^ Dur. et Schinz. (i) Buchanan.
B, oritrephes, C. B. Clarke, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Bulbosiylis si^^» (i) Buchanan.
Scirpus articulatuSy'L. (i) Buchanan.
S, littoralis, Schrad. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ; Zomba and east end of Lake
Chilwa, Meller.
S, maritimusy L. (i) Lower Shire River, Kirk and Meller.
S. costatuSi Boeck. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Fuirena pubescensy Kunth, var. Buchanani^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
F. Welwitschii, Ridley, (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Nutt.
F, umbellata, Rottb. (i) Buchanan ; Mbami, near Blantyre, Kirk.
Fuirena sp. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Lipocarpha argeniea, R. Br. (2) Nkonde country. North Nyasa, L. Scott.
L, albiceps^ Ridley, (i) Mandala, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan.
L. pulcherrima^ Ridley, (i) Buchanan.
Ascolepis protea^ Welw., var. bellidiflora^ Welw. (i) Mandala, Scott-Elliot ; Buchanan ;
(2) Nutt.
A, anihemiflora, Welw. (2) Carson ; Nutt
A. speciosa^ Welw. (2) Carson.
A, elata^ Welw. (2) Carson ; Nutt.
A. capensis, Benth. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake
Nyasa, J. Thomson.
A, brasiliensisy Benth. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
Rynchospora Candida^ Boeck. {R, adscendens, C. B. Clarke), (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Eriospora Oliveri^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Buchanan.
E, villosula^ C. B. Clarke, (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Ndirande, near Blantyre, Scott- Elliot.
ScUria pulchella^ Ridley, (i) Buchanan.
S. remoiay Ridley, (i) Buchanan.
5. ^/^^dt, Boeck. (i) Buchanan ; Mandala, Scott-Elliot.
S, hirtella^ Swartz. (2) Nkonde country, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
S, catophylla Dur. et Schinz (i) Buchanan.
S, Buchananiy Boeck. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Valley, Waller.
5. dregeanay Kunth. (i) Mananja hills. Kirk ; Buchanan.
5. bulbifera^ A. Rich, (i) Ndirande, near Blantyre, Scott-Elliot.
5. muUispiculata, Boeck. (i) Buchanan.
5. Tnelanomphaluy Kunth. (i) Buchanan.
Sclerla spp. (i) Mananja hills. Kirk ; Buchanan.
Carex boryana^ Schk. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
CVzr^rspp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
Gramineae.
Paspalum scrobiculatum, L. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Panicum sanguinale, L. (i) Buchanan; (2) Karonga and Umbaka River, North Nyasa,
L. Scott ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
P, brizanthuffi, Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
P, Crus-galliy L. (i) Shire Valley, Meller; Buchanan ; (2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa,
L. Scott ; Carson.
P. colomimy L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, L. Scott ; (2) Karonga, L. Scott.
P, indicumy L. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk.
278
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Gramineae.
Panicwn nudiglume^ Hochst. (i) Lower Shire, L. Scott.
P.paludosum^ Roxb. (i) Shire River, Kirk.
P, pectinaium, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (2) Buchanan.
P. ungutcuiatufPij Trin. ( i ) Buchanan.
P. insigne^ Steud. (i) Mafianja hills, Meller; Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Nutt ;
Carson ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
P. plicatum, Lam. (2) Carson.
P. milanjtanumy Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
P. serratum^ R. Br. (3) Serpa Pinto.
P, maximum^ Jacq. (3) Serpa Pinto.
P, nigropedatum^ Munro. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Panicum spp. ( i ) Shire River and Maiianja hills, Kirk ; Shire River, Meiler ; Mandada
and Shire River, L. Scott ; Buchanan ; (2) Carson ; (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
Setaria spp. (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; Elephant Marsh, Shire River, Kirk and L. Scott ;
Buchanan ; Blantyre, L. Scott ; (2) Umbaka and Nsese Rivers, North Nyasa.,
L. Scott.
Pennisetum Benihamii, Steud. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Meller.
P. unisetum^ Benth. (i) Buchanan.
Pennisetum sp. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk.
Cleistachne sp. ( 1 ) Buchanan.
Perotis laiifolia^ Ait. ( i ) Buchanan.
Impcraia arundinacea, Cyr. (i) Buchanan ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
Saccharum purpuratum^ Rendle. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte.
Saccharum sp. (i) West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk.
Hemarthria compressa^ R. Br. (i) Lower Shire, L. Scott.
Hemarthria sp. (i) Elephant Marsh, Shire River, Kirk; Buchanan; (2) Nsese River,
North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Elionunts argenteus, Nees. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Rottboellia exaltata^ L. (i) Lower Shire Valley, L. Scott.
Manisuris granulans^ Sm. (i) Mananja hills, Waller ; near Sochi, Kirk ; Buchanan.
Vossia procera^ Griff, (i) Elephant Marsh, on Shire River, Kirk.
Ischaemum sp. (4) Victoria Falls, Kirk.
Andropogon ceresiaeformis, Nees. (i) Buchanan.
A, squamulatus^ Hochst. (r) Buchanan.
A. schirensisy Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
A. Sorghum, Brot. (i) Mananja hills, Meller ; (2) Nutt.
A, annularis, Forsk. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk.
A. hirtus, L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; (3) Serpa Pinto.
A, anthistirioides, Hochst. (3) Serpa Pinto.
A, pertusus, Willd., var. insculpius^ Hackel. (3) Serpa P into.
A. Schoenanihus, L. (3) Serpa Pinto.
A. eucomusy Nees. (3) Serpa Pinto.
A, intermedins, R. Br., var. punctatits, Hackel. (3) Serpa Pinto.
A, Nyasae, Rendle. (i) Buchanan.
A. cymbarius, L. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
Andropogon spp. (i) Buchanan ; Mbami, near Blantyre, Kirk.
Anthisiiria ciliata, Retz. (i) Buchanan.
Anthistiria sp. (i) Mananja hills, Kirk.
Aristida barbicollis, Trin. et Rupr. (3) Serpa Pinto.
. A. vestita, Thunb. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Aristida spp. (i) Upper Shire Valley, Kirk ; Buchanan ; (4) Batoka country. Kirk.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 279
Gramineae.
Sporobolus minutijiorus, Link, (i) Buchanan ; (4) Holub.
5. leptostachys^ Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
S, indicus^ R. Br. (i) Mananja hills, Melier.
Sporobolus spp. (i) Upper and Lower Valley of the Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan ;
(2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Agrostis sp. (i) Buchanan.
Tristachya decora^ Stapf. (2) Carson.
T, inamoena, K. Schum. (i) Buchanan.
Tristachya spp. (i) Blantyre, L. Scott ; (2) Carson.
Trichopteryx leucoihrix^ Trin. (2) Carson.
Trichopteryx sp. (i) Buchanan.
Microchloa abyssinicay Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
Triraphis sp. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Chloris gayana, Kunth. (i) Chiromo, L. Scott.
C. radiata^ Sw. (i) Buchanan.
C. petraea, Thunb. (3) Serpa Pinto.
C. breviseta, Benth. (2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Chloris spp. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Kirk and Melier.
Harpechloa altera^ Rendle. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie.
Eleusine indica^ L. (i) Elephant Marsh, on Shire River, Kirk ; Buchanan ; Katunga, L.
Scott ; (2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Leptochloa uniflora^ Hochst. (i) Buchanan.
L. chinensiSy Nees. (i) Elephant Marsh, on Shire River, Kirk.
Leptochloa sp. (i) Lower Shire Valley, L. Scott.
Schmidtia quinquestta^ Benth. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Triodia sp. (i) Buchanan.
Phragmites communis, Trin. (i) Lower Shire Valley, Melier ; near Blantyre, L. Scott.
Phragmiies sp. (i) Buchanan.
Koeleria cristata, Pers. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Buchanan.
Eragrostis namaquensis, Nees. (2) Umbaka River, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
E. nindensisy Ficalho et Hiem. (3) Serpa Pinto.
E. major y Host, (i) Buchanan.
E'.elata, Munro. (3) Serpa Pinto.
E. aspera, Nees. (i) Buchanan.
E. gummiflua^ Nees. (3) Serpa Pinto.
E, Lappula^ Nees. (3) Serpa Pinto.
E, obtusa, Munro. (3) Serpa Pinto.
Eragrostis spp. (i) Mananja hills, Melier; Buchanan; Mlanje, Whyte; (2) Umbaka
and Quaqua Rivers, North Nyasa, L. Scott.
Festuca milanjiana, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte ; Buchanan.
F. cosiata, Nees. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Bromus milanjianus, Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Oxytenanthera sp. (i) Mbami and Blantyre, Lake Chihva, and Katunga, Kirk.
CONIFERAE.
Podocarpus milanjiana^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Widdringtonia Whytei^ Rendle. (i) Mlanje, Whyte and McClounie ; Zomba, Whyte.
Gnetaceae.
GnetuJH africanumfV^^VN. (r) Buchanan.
28o BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
CRYPTOGAMS.
Lycopodiaceae.
Lycopodium dacrydioidesy Baker, (i) Buchanan.
L, cemuufHy L. (i) Buchanan.
Selaginellaceae.
Selaginella versicolor ^ Spring, (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
S, mollicepSy Spring, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan.
S, Vogeliiy Spring. (2) Carson.
Equisetaceae.
Equisetum elongatum, Willd. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan.
Salviniaceae,
Azolla pinna ta^ R. Br. (i) Lake Nyasa, Laws.
Filices.
Gleichenia polypodioidesy Sm. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
G, dichotomay Hook. (2) Nutt.
Cyathea Dregei^ Kze. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt.
C. Thontsoniy Baker. (2) Lower plateau, north of Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
C. zambesiacay Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Hymenophyllum austraUy Willd. (i) Buchanan.
Davallia thecifera, H. B. K. (i) Buchanan.
D. SpeluncaCy Baker. (2) Carson.
Cheilanthes Schimperiy Kze. (i) Buchanan.
C, multijiday Sw. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Pellaea hastatOy Link, (i) Buchanan.
P. duruy Willd. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
F, Calomelanosy Link. (3) Serpa Pinto.
P, donianay Hook, (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
P, pectiniformisy Baker ; (2) Nutt.
Pteris quadriauritay Retz. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot and Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Pt. biauritUy L. (2) Carson.
Pi.flabellatay Thunb. (2) Carson.
PL creticay L. (i) Buchanan.
Pt, atrovirensy Willd. (2) Carson.
AdiantufH aethiopicumy L. (i) Buchanan.
A. Capi II us- Veneris y L. (i) Buchanan.
A. caudaiunty L. (i) Buchanan.
A, hispidulutHy Sw. (i) Buchanan.
A, lunulatwHy Burm. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Lonchitis pubescmsy Willd. (2) Nutt.
Lo maria boryanUyV^ iWd. (i) Buchanan.
Actiniopteris radiaiUy Link, (i) Buchanan.
Asplenium Sandersoniy Hook, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott- Elliot.
A, Manniiy Hook, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
A. anisophyUunty Kze. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
A, lunulatuniy Sw. (i) Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte ; Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
A^formosufHy Willd. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie.
A. brachypterorty Kze. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
A, protensuttiy Schrad. (i) Buchanan.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 281
FiLICES.
Asplenium furcatuniy Thunb. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-Elliot ; (2) Carson.
A, rutaefolium^ Kzc. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
A, cicutarium^ Sw. (i) Buchanan ; Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
A, Thunbergii^ Kze. (i) Buchanan.
A, nigripesy Blume. (i) Buchanan.
A, patens^ Desv. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot.
A, cordaiuffty Forst. (i) Mlanje, McClounie.
Nephrodium Filix-mas^ Rich., var. elongatum^ H. et A. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
and Buchanan.
N. patens^ Desv. (i) Buchanan.
N. unitum^ R. Br. (i) Buchanan.
N, molky Desv. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
N, pennigerumy Hook, (i) Buchanan.
N. cicutarium^ Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan and Scott-Elliot ; Chiradzulu,
Whyte.
N, cUbO'punctatum^ Desv. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Nutt ; Carson.
N. athamanticum^ Hook. (2) Nutt.
N. ThelypteriSy Desv. (2) Carson.
Nephrolepis cordifolia^ Presl. (i) Buchanan ; (2) Carson.
Polypodiumfissum^ Baker, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot.
P. lanceolatum^ L. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-Elliot
Acrostichum conformed Sw. (i) Buchanan.
A, hybridutfty Bory. (i) Buchanan.
A. virensy Wall. (2) Carson.
Osmunda regcUis^ L. (2) Nutt.
Anemia tomentosa^ Sw. (i) Buchanan.
Mohria vestita^ Baker, (i) Buchanan.
Maratiia fraxinea^ Sm. (i) Buchanan ; Mlanje, McClounie.
Ophioglossum reticulatum^ L. (i) Buchanan.
Musci.
Polytrichum commune^ L. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Bryum sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Holomitrium acutufu^ Wright, (i) Zomba, Kirk.
Dicranum sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Leucoloma sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Lepiodoniium radicosum^ Mitt, (i) Buchanan.
Erpodium grossirete, K. Muell. (4) Menyharth.
E. Menyharthiiy K. Muell. (4) Menyharth.
Pierogonium abruptum^ Wright, (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan ; Chiradzulu, Whyte.
P. decipiens^ Wright (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan.
Piloirichella imbricatUy Jaeg. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Aerobryum capense^ K. Muell. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Porotrichum dentatum^ Gepp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Thuidium sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Hepaticae.
Marchanita polymorphay L. (i) Shire Highlands, Buchanan.
Metzgeria furcatUy Dum. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
J/, myriapoda^ Lindb. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Frullania brunnea^ Gottsche, Lindb. et Nees. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
282 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Hepaticae.
Lejeunea graciltima^ Mitt, (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
L, decursiva^ v. d. Sande-Lacoste. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
L.flavaj Gottsche. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Phrag^nicoma pappeanuy Necs. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Radula sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Lophocolea sp. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
Plagiochila Rutcnbergii^ Gottsche. (i) Mlanje, Whyte.
P. dichotoma^ Dum. (i) Chiradzulu, Meller.
Fungi.
Flammula penetrans^ Fr. (i) Lower Shire, Scott-Elliot.
Schizophyllum commum^ Fr. (i) Shire Highlands, K. C. Cameron ; Chiromo, Lower
Shire, Scott-Elliot.
Crepidotus mollis^ Schaeff. (i) Shire Highlands, Scott- Elliot.
Hexagonia polygramma^ Mont, (i) Buchanan
Favolus Rhipidium, Berk, (i) Shire Highlands, Scott-EUiot.
Trametes Jibrosus^ Nces. (i) Shire Highlands, Last.
7". rigidus^ Fr. (i) Buchanan.
T,pictusy Berk, (i) Chiromo, Scott-Elliot.
Lenzites apphinaicis Fr. (i) Buchanan.
L, aspera, Klotzsch. (i) Buchanan.
Polyporus scruposus, Fr. ( i ) Buchanan.
P, sanguineus^ Fr. (i) Buchanan.
/*. rw^/>, Berk. ? (i) Buchanan.
Polysticius occidentalism Klotzsch. (i) Chiromo, Scott-EUiot.
Parodiella Pentanisiae^ Sacc. (2) Lake Nyasa, J. Thomson.
Physalospora BambusaCy Sacc. (i) Chiradzulu, Whyte.
Phyllachora Hieronymi^ P. Henn, (i) Buchanan.
Lichens. [All from (4) Boroma (Menyharth), except the last two.]
Leptogiopsis Brebissoniiy Muell.-Arg.
Collema furvumy Ach.
Pyrenopsis robustula^ Muell.-Arg.
Ramalina complanata^ Ach.
Parmelia Hildenbrandtii^ Keplh., forma nuda^ Muell.-Arg., forma sorcdiosa^ Muell.-Arg.
P.praetervisay Muell.-Arg.
P. zambesica, Muell.-Arg.
P. Zol lingerie Hepp.
P, tiiiacea, Ach., var. scortea^ Nyl, var. rimulosa^ Muell.-Arg.
Candelaria stcliaUi, Muell.-Arg.
Physcia adgluiinatay Nyl., y^x, pyreihrocardia, Muell.-Arg.
P, stellarisy Fr., var. acriia, Nyl.
P, ochroieuca, MueU.-Arg.
P. picta^ Nyl., var. sorediaia^ Muell.-Arg.
P. aegialita, Nyl.
Endo carpi scum Guepini, Nyl.
Pyxitte Meissncriy Tuck., var. endoleuca^ Muell.-Arg., var. sorediosa, Muell.-Arg.
Placodium pcrexiguum^ Muell. Arg.
Lecanora subfusca, Ach., var. ailop/tana, Ach., var. ghibrata, Ach., var. cinerco-carKea,
Tuck.
BOTANICAL APPENDICES 283
Lichens.
Lecanora hypocrocina^ Nyl.
L, caesio-rubella^ Ach.
L, pailescens, Fr.
Lecania punicea^ MucU.-Arg.
Callopisma cinnaharinum^ Muell.-Arg., var. opacum^ Muell.-Arg.
C. sambesicum^ MueU.-Arg.
C.Jlavum^ Muell.-Arg.
Rinodina conspersa^ Muell.-Arg.
Pertusaria velata^ Nyl.
P. xanthothelia, Muell.-Arg.
P. mamillana^ Mudl.-Arg.
Lecidea russuia, Ach.
Z. mutabiliSy F^e.
Z. impressa^ Keplh.
Patellaria leptolyiray Muell.-Arg.
Blastema poliotet'a, Muell.-Arg.
Buellia parasema^ Korb., var. disciformis^ Th. M. Fries, var. vulgata^ Th. M. Fries.
B, africana^ Muell.-Arg.
B. olivacea, Muell.-Arg.
B. inquilinay Tuck.
Opegrapha Menyharthii^ Muell.-Arg.
Arthonia dispersa, Nyl.
Mycoporum pycnocarpum^ Nyl.
Placothelium staurothelioides, Muell.-Arg.
Trypethelium Eiuteriae, Sprgl.
Lepra citrina^ Schaer.
Usnea barbaia, Ach., var. ceratina^ Schaer. (2) Carson.
Physcia speciosa, Ach., var. hypoleuca^ Nyl. (2) Carson.
Algae. [All from (i ?) Lake Nyasa (Laws), except the first.]
Char a sp. (2) Carson.
Conferva sp. ?
Bulbochaete parvula, Ktz.
Spirogyra pallida y Dickie.
Cosmarium margaritiferum, Turp.
Cylindrospermum Nyassae^ Dickie.
Lyngbya martensiana^ Menegh. ?
Oscillaria sp. ?
Cyclotella rotula^ Ktz.
C. operculatay Ktz.
Epithemia ventricosa^ Ktz.
E, Zebra^ Ehb.
E. alpestrisy Sm.
E, SoreXy Ktz.
E, turgida^ Ktz.
E. clavaia^ Dickie.
Eunotia trideniula^ Ehb.
Himantidium pectinaUy Ktz.
Cocconema cymbiforme, Ehb.
C. Cistula^ Hemp.
284 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Algae.
Amphora ovaiisy Ktz.
Eucyonema prosiratum. Berk.
Cocconeis placentula^ Ehb.
Fragilaria undaia, Sm.
Synedra Ulna^ Ehb.
5. Acus^ Ktz.
5. biceps^ Ktz.
Navicula acrosphaeria^ Rabh., var. sandvicensis, Schmidt.
N. gibberula^ Sm.
iV. Gastrunty Ebb.
iV. ellipiicay Ktz.
iV. rhomboidesy Ehb.
A'', gracillimay Pritch.
Siauroneis Phoenicenierotty Ehb.
Diadesmis confervaceuy Ktz.
Gomphonema dichotomuniy Ktz.
<J. iniricatum, Ktz.
(7. naviculoidesy Sm.
6^. Turrisy Ehb.
CHAPTER IX.
ZOOLOGY
ALTHOUGH British Central Africa would appear to be a purely political
and artificial division of the continent it is, as a matter of fact, coincident
with a clearly marked zoological sub-region as far as its mammalian
fauna is concerned, though these special peculiarities in the distribution of species
are not quite so marked in the birds and reptiles, and still less so in fishes and
invertebrates.^ These distinctive zoographical features of British Central
Africa, however, are rather negative than positive, and relate more to what
the country does not possess than to its monopoly of peculiar forms. As
a matter of fact all British Central Africa as far west as the Upper Zambezi,
together with the province of Mozambique, the southern part of German East
Africa, and the southernmost districts of the Congo Free State, forms a
remarkable break between South and East Africa in the range of well known
types of mammals and birds. The British Central Africa sub-region differs
from that of West Africa in not possessing any form of anthropoid ape, and in
the absence of a good many monkeys, of several small antelopes, and of the
interesting Dorcatherium, On the other hand it agrees with West Africa in
possessing a peculiar Civet {Nandinia\ one or more genera of bats, and a
Colobus monkey closely allied to or identical with the common West African
form. Amongst the birds which it shares alone with West Africa is the
remarkable black and white vulturine fishing eagle, Gypohierax?-
Although this sub-region possesses much closer relationships (as might be
supposed owing to its geographical position) with the South African sub-region
south of the Zambezi, and the East African sub-region (north of the Rufiji
river and to the east of Tanganyika), still it differs from these two sub-regions
(which are more closely allied the one to the other than each is to British
Central Africa) in not possessing the following forms, in whose distribution the
interposition of this sub-region under review causes a complete break : the
Caracal lynx, the Aard-wolf {Proteles\ found in South and South West Africa
and in Somaliland ; the long-eared foxes, the mountain zebras, the wild asses,
(to which group I consider the South African quagga to belong) ; the Otyx
antelopes, the gazelles, the true jerboas, the Orycteropiis or antbear, the
secretary vulture, the typical vultures of the genera Gyps and Pseudogyps, and
the ostrich.
* Though if a portion of Tanganyika be included — as it is intended to h^ — within the term ** British
Central Africa" this lake still more markedly than Nyasa differs in its marine fauna from the other great
lakes of Africa farther to the north.
^ I have seen it asserted by some naturalists that Gy pokier ax reappears on Pemba Island near Zanzibar
but this statement is unsupported by conclusive evidence.
285
286 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
To this list might almost be added the giraffe, and the Damaliscus genus of
antelopes, were it not that according to native report the giraffe is found in the
southern part of the Senga country along the Lower Luangwa river above its
confluence with the Zambezi, and that Mr. Sharpe believes he has seen tsessebe
{^Damaliscus) antelopes a little to the north of the same region. Still here,
again, the zoological boundaries of this sub-region rather coincide with the
political because it is well known that certa^in South African forms do cross the
Central Zambezi and extend a little distance to the north of its banks, and this
may, therefore, account for the existence of the giraffe and the tsessdbe in the
Luangwa valley. It is quite certain, however, that the giraffe is found nowhere
in East Africa south of the Rufiji river and between the Mozambique coast on
the east and the Angola coast on the west.^ Neither are the ostrich nor the other
antelopes and carnivora mentioned above. Yet all these forms, either the same
or other species closely allied thereto, reappear north of the Rufiji river, or at
any rate in Somaliland and the Egyptian Sudan ; some of them even in the
Western Sudan and in Senegambia. It is very curious that this break should
occur right across the continent as it cannot be sufficiently explained by any
reasons of climate or soil. The country is not one dense impenetrable forest
like parts of the Congo Basin, nor is it a waterless desert. It is dry enough for
ostriches and yet not too dry for water-loving antelopes. It must be admitted,
however, that it is probably too moist for the absent animals which are rather
desert-loving types.
Taken by itself the British Central Africa sub-region may be divided into
two districts, at any rate as regards it.s mammalian fauna — Nyasaland and the
adjoining countries to the east ; and all which lies between the watershed of
Nyasa and the northern, western, and southern frontiers of the sphere of British
influence. There is not much difference between the two, but Nyasaland
probably lacks a few mammalian types such as the Situtunga {Tragelaphus
spekei) ; the Puku and Lechwe antelopes {Cobus vardoni and Cobus lechwe\
and the Cheetah ; on the other hand the western division does not possess the
grey baboon {Papio pruinosus)\ the long-nosed Shrew {Rhynchocyon); a number
of rodents ; the sable antelope, and several birds which are peculiar to the
mountains of the Shire districts.^
^ It reaches to the Ubena country, N.E. of Lake Nyasa.
' I should be disposed to divide the African region into two sub- regions and these again into
certain provinces. They would stand thus :
(i) The West African sub-region (the forest country of West Africa from the Gambia on the north to
the Kwanza river on the south, including the coast belt of West Africa and the whole Congo basin as far
as the west coast of Tanganyika) ;
( I a) The Guinea province (Gambia to the Volta river) ;
(i b) The Lower Niger Province (Volta river to the Cameroons and the Upper Benue) ;
( I c) The Gaboon province (Cameroons to the Congo mouth and inland to the Congo watershed) ;
(i^) The Congo province (all the Congo basin except in the extreme south) ;
{le) The Angola province (on the coast, the river Loge to Benguela and inland to the Congo
watershed, but including the extreme Upper Zambezi).
(2) The Ethiopian sub-region (Tropical Arabia, and all Tropical Africa not included in the West
African sub- region) :
(2 a) The Sudan province (from the Senegambian coast on the west to the frontiers of Abyssinia on
the east, with the Sahara on the north and the Congo Basin and West African Coast belt on
. the south) ;
(2 b) The Abyssinian province ;
(2 c) The Arabian province ;
(2d) The Somaliland province (bounded by Abyssinia, the Egyptian Sudan, the east coast of
Tanganyika, and the Rufiji river) ;
(2 e) The British Central African province ; and
(2/) The South African province (bounded more or less on the north by the Zambezi, and up
the south-west coast of Africa to the Angola province).
ZOOLOGY 287
Monkeys are not abundant in British Central Africa, nor are they numerous
in species. The most remarkable among them is the grey baboon {Papio
pruinosus) recently discovered on the south coast of Lake Nyasa. The first
specimen of this animal was shot by Dr. Percy Kendall, a medical officer in
the service of the Administration. He was not at first much struck with the
novelty of the creature's appearance, however, and had I not been passing at
the time and observed the body of the beast as it lay dead on his verandah,
it might have been thrown away, but it struck me as being very remarkable in
the colouring of its fur, and I induced him to let me forward it to the British
Museum, where it turned out to belong to a new species. Its fur is a pale
bluish-grey above and a dirty white below and is well illustrated by the plate
which appears in the Proceedings for April ist, 1897, of the Zoological Society.
The common yellow baboon is the other cynocephaline species which is found
in the Protectorate. It is extremely common everywhere,^ very bold and very
cunning. It is constantly robbing the natives' plantations, and the women
profess to go in terror of the large male baboons (which grow to the size of a
big mastiff dog) as they say that these latter will attempt to outrage them if
they see no man accompanying the party. I do not myself believe there is
any truth in this idea ; I think all the baboons want to ravish are the contents
of the baskets of food the women are carrying ; it is quite certain that they
will come down and endeavour to rob women and children if they see them
unaccompanied by persons armed with weapons.
When the baboons descend to raid the plantations one or more of their
number (a half-grown baboon generally) invariably stands sentry to warn the
rest of the troop when danger is approaching. The baboons are not very shy
of approach unless one is armed with a gun. Not infrequently when I have
been riding alone between Blantyre and Katunga a number of baboons have
come down to the road to look at me as I went by and have even trotted along
on the road in front of my horse. On one occasion their demeanour was
distinctly threatening. Several of them were waiting for me on either side of
the road making hideous grimaces and grunts. They dispersed, however, when
I rode straight at them and showed that I had a switch. The young baboons
become quite tame after a few days* captivity and are most amusing though very
impudent pets.
The two commonest Cercopithecus monkeys are the white-throated and the
red-rumped (C albigularis and C, pygerythrus). The Colobus monkey {Colobus
palliatus) is the white-thighed species. This animal is rare in British Central
Africa, and is so far as I know only found in the high mountains west and north
of Lake Nyasa. Its skins are much valued by the natives who use the long
black and white hair to make capes and mantles and anklets for their war
dresses.
The Lemuroids are represented by the great Galago ^ and the small Moholi
Galago. The big species is a beautiful animal about the size of a cat. The
colour of the fur (at any rate in the Nyasa variety) is quite a light whitish-grey
and the tail is exceedingly bushy. This creature when captured full grown
is rather intractable and difficult to tame. It can and will bite savagely. When
brought to bay it stands up on its hind legs and boxes with the fore paws,
partly to repel an assault and partly to seize and bite the assaulter.
^ The yellow baboon {Papio babuin) is found nearly all over tropical Africa south of the Equator.
It is in some respects the most generalised of the baboons.
• Otogak Kirkii,
288 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The young of the great Galago are exquisite little creatures like Chinchillas.
It would appear to be an animal of rather slow growth, and the young are
therefore taken by Europeans to be a different species to the full growni
animal.^
There is not much remarkable about the bats of British Central Africa so
far as I am aware. They have been chiefly collected by Dr. Percy Rendall who
was for a time our medical officer on Lake Nyasa. Prior to this Dr. Rendall
was Colonial Surgeon at the Gambia. Whilst in that West African Colony he
shot one day a curious white-winged bat which was named " Vesperugo rendalUr
The specimen he sent home from the Gambia was the only one known. Years
afterwards, however, Dr. Rendall caught a bat on the Upper Shire, and to his
surprise found it was identical with the white-winged bat of the Gambia. As
Mr. Oldfield Thomas observes in his paper on the mammals of Nyasaland,
** It is a curious coincidence that the second known capture of this bat should
take place in a country so far distant from the Gambia as Nyasa, and that it
should be due to the very same naturalist who originally discovered it and after
whom it was named. There appear to be no differences of the least importance
between the Gambian and Nyasan examples."
Two species of fruit-eating bats are found in Nyasaland.^
Among the insectivores which are few in Central Africa, are the long-nosed,
jumping shrews. One genus (^Petrodromus) (about the size of a large rat) has
the nose merely prolonged into a long snout ; but the more specialised
genus {Rkynchocyon) has a positive proboscis. In spite of the development
of the snout these are pretty little animals. They soon die when captured,
which is the more to be regretted as with their large eyes and soft fur they
would make admirable pets.
The carnivora are well represented in this country. Firstly, we have the lion
— almost too abundant — and the leopard, still more common. The handsome
serval-cat is also found everywhere throughout the whole of British Central
Africa. Their kittens are easily reared and stand confinement well ; one which
I kept for three years in captivity is now in the Zoological Gardens. These
serval-cats become tame to a certain extent, but never as absolutely friendly as
a pet leopard. The serval resents caresses and is ready to strike out with its
sharp claws. Still upon such occasions as when those that I kept escap>ed
they submitted in a somewhat docile manner to be laid hold of and hauled
about, and their cage could always be entered by the negro attendant without
any aggressive action on their part.
The serval appears to me to be an interesting form for the reason that I
think it represents a more generalised type of true cat, something akin to the
primal feline stock from which the cheetah branched off a little lower down.
The serval suggests the cheetah in many ways while it also has a marked
* The leaping powers of all the Galagos are remarkable, but reach their highest development
perhaps, in the great CJalago. In West Africa I used to l)e much struck with the bat-like movements of
the smaller Galagos. A tame one would suddenly leap from my hand — I had almost said " fly " — two
yards away to the window-pane and there kill a moth or fly that was buzzing against the glass. The swift
movements of the great Galago still more resemble flight, and it has a habit of slightly spreading out the
limbs, especially the arms, as it noiselessly jumps through the air. It can jump horizontally or upwardly ;
its leaps are not necessarily downwards. The large pads on the under surface of almost all the Angers
except one (for a faithful feature throughout all the Lemuroids is that one finger remains thin and provided
with a sharp claw, whereas the other fingers and toes are padded and provided with square nails) seem to
assist this lemur in breaking the shock of its jumps, and enabling it to cling to almost any surface.
1 cannot help thinking that the flight of the l)ats began in some such way as this, especially if the bats
arose rather through a Lemuroid type than as a section of the Insectivora.
2 Xantharpyia and Epomophorus.
ZOOLOGY 289
relationship to the lynxes. The spots are simple like those in the cheetah and
the lynxes, and although he is a true cat (in that the claws are fully retractile),
still the paw is much smaller in relative size than it is with other members of the
genus Felis^ and much more like the paw of the cheetah. Also the claws are
not proportionally so large. The ears have a slight approach to a tuft at the
af)ex suggesting the lynx ; the tail though much longer than that of an average
lynx is still rather short but very thick ; and in this particular the animal has
diverged from the ancestral cat rather in the direction of the lynxes. The legs
are very long which is also a characteristic of the cheetah and the lynx but
may have been acquired by the serval from its hunting habits ; for from all
accounts it often pursues its prey instead of lying in wait and securing it by
sudden leaps. Nevertheless, it is a good climber and owing to the small size
of its feet and thin body can find a foothold on a ledge not more than two
inches broad.
The serval is most destructive to the smaller game, but it is a beautiful
animal and often attains a length of nearly four feet and a height at the
shoulder of three feet. The other wild cat of British Central Africa is the
Felis caffrUy very like the form which gave rise to the Egyptian domestic cat,
and which, mingled with the true wild cat of Europe and Asia, was the joint
parent of the European domestic cat
The cats kept by the natives are scarcely distinguishable sometimes from the
wild Felts caffra, though undoubtedly the main origin of their domesticated
animal (remotely derived from the cat of Egypt and Syria — Felis maniculatd)
is from a foreign source — from Europe and India, via the East Coast of Africa.
But unquestionably the wild cat of British Central Africa mingles freely with
the domestic and semi-domestic animal, and the natives often bring in its
kittens from the woods and rear them as domestic cats. These animals are
charming when in the kitten stage, but when they grow up they become lanky,
with small heads and thin tails. The domestic cats which are too directly
derived from the wild species are not very tame or tractable.
The cheetah is very rare but is found on the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
near Lake Mweru, probably in the Luangwa Valley, and possibly in the
countries to the north-east of Lake Nyasa. I have no positive record of this
hunting cat having been actually killed in the Nyasaland province. The
animal has been shot by Mr. J. B. Yule (who showed me the skins, one of which
I sent home) on the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau. The cheetah in question was
the common variety with black spots. I have never heard of the red spotted
cheetah of South Africa having been found north of the Zambezi.
The hyena of British Central Africa is the ordinary spotted species whose
range extends from South Africa to the Egyptian Sudan up the eastern side of
the continent ; the spotted hyena is probably found in the Central Sudan and
may enter the Niger territories outside the forest region.^
The civet cat is extremely common. Strange to say the natives seem to
make no use of its remarkable scent gland. A lovely little genet cat, whose
large spots are a rich umber brown instead of black is very common, and makes
a charming house pet.
^ The remarkable brown hyena has a somewhat similar range but less continuous. I believe I met
with it on Kilimanjaro ; it is commonest in south-east Africa and is said to extend along the south-west
coast as far as the district of Mossamedes. Up to the present it has not been recorded from British
Central Africa. The range of the striped hyena is altogether fcur to the north. It probably nearly meets
the range of the spotted hyena in the Sudan and elsewhere extends over the Mediterranean basin, Persia,
and Western India.
19
290 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
A remarkable animal from the point of view of distribution is the palm
civet {Nandinid) which as far as is yet known extends right across from West
Africa into Nyasaland, but is not found in East or South Africa. Ichneumons
of three genera are found in this country.
The only species of Jackal which is recorded from our collection is the side-
striped jackal (Cants lateralis or C. adustus). It is entirely unlike the handsome
black-backed jackal of South Africa, which has a black back and a silvery band
of fur below the black; the centre of the back of the Nyasaland jackal is a rich
chestnut brown and the silvery streak below is only faintly marked.
The Cape hunting-dog^ has been killed on Mount Zomba and is reported
from West Nyasaland. Other specimens were obtained by Mr. Crawshay in
the Lake Mweru district and sent home by me. From all accounts it is not a
common animal in British Central Africa unless it be in the Luangwa valley.
A SPOTTED HYENA
M. Foa, a French sportsman, reports these animals as frequently met with in
the Makanga country to the south-west of Nyasaland.
A pretty little white-necked weasel ^ has been obtained in the Shire High-
lands. I have also met with the ratel or honey badger in the same district, but
we have not yet found the small black and white "Cape polecat" {Ictonyx\
which inhabits South and East Africa, and whose range may — like that of so
many other species — be interrupted by British Central Africa.
An otter is very common on the Shire, in Lake Chilwa, Lake Nyasa,
and in other large waters of British Central Africa. The only species recorded
by complete specimens is Lutra maculicollis, or the "spotted-necked otter";
but I am inclined to think that Lutra capensis is also found in parts of British
Central Africa. I can only base my impression on dressed skins seen in the
possession of natives, which I believe to have been of this animal.
Except to naturalists there is nothing very interesting in the rodents of
British Central Africa. A hare is present in Nyasaland of the big species,
Lepus whytei. One or other types of hare are also found in the western part
of British Central Africa but may possibly belong to species common to South
* Lycaon, 2 Parilogale.
ZOOLOGY 291
or East Africa. I should like to make a special mention of the large Octodont
— one of the few Octodont rodents found outside America — the *' ground-pig,"
Aulacodus swinderenianus. This creature which is especially fond of sugar-
cane plantations is such a delicious article of diet that it ought to be domesti-
cated for the table. Its flesh tastes something like that of a rabbit but has a
savour quite its own.
As regards rats, I should mention that they are numerous and a great pest.
The natives eat them with gusto. The common rat of the native villages and
European settlements is a brown variety of the Black rat {Mus rattus). There
is one rat which is an appalling creature to look at It is apparently allied
to the Bandicoot-rat of India — about the size of a rabbit, with pale grey fur,
a long tail and hideously long snout. In captivity it is ferocious to the last
degree and looks a thoroughly evil animal.
A porcupine has been found in British Central Africa but I have not been
able to obtain specimens for identification and only know it from native report
and from having seen its quills in use for native ornaments. The natives state
that there are two species, one large and one small, for which they have slightly
different names, Nungu and Kanungu,
The Hyraxes are represented by at least two species — Procavia johnstoni
and P, brucei. They are chiefly confined in their distribution to the high
mountains and plateaux.
The Ungulates, as elsewhere in Tropical Africa, are well represented.
There is the African elephant of course, and among the Perissodactyla
we have the ordinary two-horned rhinoceros and the zebra. The Artiodactyla
are represented by the hippopotamus, two genera of swine, and numerous
examples of the Bovidce or hollow-homed ruminants.
The elephant was formerly most abundant throughout the whole of British
Central Africa, and in the years following on Livingstone's first expedition
many sportsmen from England made large sums of money by the ivory which
they obtained in the Shire district and at the north end of Lake Nyasa. Sub-
sequently this great beast has become very scarce within the limits of the
Protectorate though he is still found in large numbers in the rest of British
Central Africa, especially in the Mweru districts, the Luangwa Valley and the
country between the Luangwa and the Luapula. They are also occasionally
met with in the Ruo, Zomba, West Shire, South Nyasa, Central Angortiland,
Marimba, and West Nyasa districts of the Protectorate, being most abundant
in Central Angoniland and in Marimba. They feed chiefly on leaves and such
fruits as are in season. They also eat the top shoots of the Phragmites reeds
and the roots of certain trees, which they are fond of chewing. These trees they
uproot with their trunks and also by butting. Mr. Sharpe, who has studied
elephants closely, denies that they use their tusks for prizing-up the trees or for
exhuming roots. Although I respect him as a great authority on the subject I
cannot agree with him in this particular. I have seen something of elephants
on the Congo and at the back of the Cameroons, and there the natives have
told me spontaneously that the elephant used one of his tusks for digging in
the ground and for uprooting the small trees. Moreover, it often happens that
one of the elephant's tusks — the " ground tusk " — is more worn and blunted
than the other, probably from being put to this use.^ At the same time
* The term ** ground tusk " may bear two interpretations. According to old custom, when a native in
Central Africa kills an elephant he gives the * Aground tusk" to the Chief of the Country. This may
either mean the inferior tusk worn with digging, but more probably the undermost of the two tusks — that
which is touching the ground, in reference to the proprietary rights of the *' Lord of the Manor."
292 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
although I have seen elephants at work in Hyphaene palm forests on the Congo
actually being able to watch them from a boat working their will on these trees
for the sake of the " ginger-bread " covering of the nuts, I cannot say I have
seen them kneel down and uproot a tree with the tusk. One is a little puzzled
sometimes to account for the enormous development of the two remaining
upper incisor teeth, unless they were used for some such purpose as digging
up roots. They are not so useful as defensive or offensive weapons that they
should be worth development for this purpose alone. In killing animals much
less in size than himself the elephant generally uses his trunk and feet, though
I admit many cases occur — including one which took place a few months ago in
England — where an elephant does deliberately slay his victim with his tusk.
On the whole I am inclined to believe that where the elephant retains these
huge teeth he uses them occasionally for digging in the ground. This belief is
supported by the very distinct statements of such authorities as (the late) Sir
Samuel Baker and Mr. F. C. Selous. The former writes "They (the acacia
trees) are easily overturned by the tusks of the elephants which are driven like
crowbars beneath the roots and used as levers, in which rough labour they are
frequently broken .... It is nearly always the right tusk which is selected
for this duty." Mr. Selous states that he has seen large areas of sandy soil
ploughed up by the tusks of these animals in their search for roots.
Although nowhere very abundant, the ordinary two-homed rhinoceros is
probably found pretty generally over all British Central Africa except on the
high plateaux. But from all accounts it is absent from the south shore of
^ Tanganyika and from the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau. Unless, therefore, it can
be proved to exist in the interior of the Mozambique district the rhinoceros will
be another of those animals whose range is completely broken by the inter-
position of British Central Africa.^ Is the so-called " white rhinoceros "
{^Rhinoceros sitnus) found north of the Zambezi ? This is a question rather
hard to answer in the negative or affirmative. I should not be surprised to hear
that it was, though not within British territory but in the adjoining districts of
Portuguese Zambezia. In 1892 an English trader, Mr. Harry Pettitt, gave me
an extraordinary pair of horns which he had obtained in Portuguese territory to
the south of the river Ruo. These horns were very similar in appearance to
those of the " white rhinoceros,'* that is to say, both horns were of good length
but the front one was extremely long, slender and directed forwards. There
are specimens extant of the white rhinoceros in which the front horn is not
directed forwards but is exactly vertical, or turned slightly backwards. Still I
never remember to have seen a specimen of the ordinary two-horned rhinoceros
which has the front horn directed forwards. The pair of horns to which I
allude I sent to Mr. Sclater and I believe they are now in the British Museum.*
The zebra of British Central Africa is a singularly beautiful beast and
should, if right were done, be made a type species under the name of Equus
tigrinus^ with three sub-species or varieties — E, tigrinus burchelli, E, tigrinus
chapmaniy and E. tigrinus granti, to indicate in addition to the clear and
perfectly striped Central African form the three other varieties which are
marred in their beauty by intermediate faint stripes, and one of which
* Abundant evidence, however, of the existence of the Rhinoceros in the vicinity of Lake Rukwa
was obtained by the Rev. Harwood Nult of the London Missionary Society.
* Mr. Sclater suggests they may belong to a .sub-species of Rhinoceros proposed by Dr. Gray, ** Gray's
Rhinoceros."
' Namely the striped horse, par excellence.
THE CENTRAL AFRICAN ZEBRA
ZOOLOGY 295
(Burcheirs zebra) has the legs below the "knee" and hock almost without
stripes.
The question with regard to the striped horses stands thus : — There is the
true or mountain zebra {Equus zebra)^ a smaller animal than the zebra of the
plains and with the pattern and breadth of the stripes differing from the three
types of (so-called) Burchell's zebra. The true zebra is perhaps the most per-
fectly striped of all the Tigrine horses. This creature is nearly extinct but has
always been for the last hundred years or so confined to the mountains of
South Africa.
Then there is the closely allied Equus grevyi which inhabits the mountains
of southern Abyssinia and Somaliland. From the resemblance between
these two types of mountain zebra one might imagine that there had been
a regular race of mountain zebras inhabiting all the highlands from the
north-east to the south-west of Africa, but that all the links between Shoa and
Cape Colony had died out in the course of time. It is curious that the natives
of Mlanje assert that there is a small mountain zebra dwelling on Michesi
Mountain which is an outlying spur of the Mlanje range. Up to the present,
however, we have been unable to secure a specimen.
Then comes the race of big zebras of the plains. These are characterised
by much broader stripes, by the ground colour of the skin being darker and
yellower in tint than that of the mountain zebra and, in one variety, by the
imperfect striping of the legs. What I object to is that this imperfect type
should be taken as the type of the species merely because it was the first one to
be discovered (it was named after the South African traveller Burchell).^ Sub-
sequently as explorers and sportsmen penetrated more and more into South
Central Africa they found that the zebra of the plains was striped right down
to the hoof. A specimen was sent home by a Mr. Chapman and naturalists
then called it Equus burchelli, variety chapnianL But both Burchell's and
Chapman's zebras have this point in common, that in between the broad black
stripes there are thin hazy dun-coloured streaks, much as though one took a
photograph of a striped zebra, he moved, and so the stripes were faintly
duplicated. This intervening brown zigzag marking has, in my opinion, a
very ugly effect. Now the zebra of Nyasaland and, as far as I know, of all
British Central Africa, is without this duplication of the stripe, and is one of
the most beautiful animals in existence. Its ground colour is very pale fawn,
melting into white, and the stripes are broad and jet black. It is striped down
to its very hoofs. But on the other hand, the common zebra of East Africa and
Uganda also has these duplications of the stripes, though not in such a marked
degree as the South African zebra of the plains. It would seem, therefore, that
the zebra found in South Central Africa is a distinct variety, if not species. I
consider it should be the type of the large zebras and that the others should be
classified as inferior varieties, tending more towards the Quagga. This point,
however, was first raised by Mr. Richard Crawshay, and up to the present
zoologists are not agreed as to the validity it possesses.^
Last in the list of zebras is the Quagga which is dun coloured, with stripes
only on the neck, shoulders, and forelegs. The Quaggji is nearly if not quite
* The story goes that Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, and the explorer Burchell— both peppery
men — had quarrelled. Dr. Gray having a new zebra to name, called it, half in fun, half in malice,
*• Asinus burchelli.** Burchell, so far from appreciating the honour, challenged Dr. Gray to fight a duel !
' Since writing the above I have read the article on the subject by Mr. W. E. de Winton in the
Magazine of Natural History , but I think it best to let my views stand as they are.
296 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
extinct and, so far as we know, is confined in its range to Africa south of the
Zambezi. It is very asinine in its affinities.^
The zebra is still extremely common almost all over the Protectorate, and
measures have now been taken to preserve it from undue diminution at the
hands of sportsmen and natives. I have several times tried to tame the young
but have had great difficulty in rearing them away from their mothers, and all
experimented on have died within a few days of their capture.
When our system of Game Reserves is perfected we shall be able from time
to time to make drives and possibly catch some of the young zebras sufficiently
old to be independent of a milk diet and yet not so old as to be quite
intractable. They might then be broken in and tamed as is^now being done
increasingly in South Africa.
The zebra of British Central Africa is slightly larger than his South African
congener and is, perhaps, the largest representative of the zebra group.
When I first came to this country I found the hippopotamus so numerous on
the Shire as to be a serious danger to navigation in vessels smaller than a
steamer. They were very vicious and fond of pursuing and upsetting canoes.
Mr. Sharpe in travelling down the Shire in 1892 was, as I have already related,
upset by a hippopotamus and nearly drowned. I have been in a boat myself on
the Upper Shire which was so far tilted over by a hippopotamus that most of
the men fell into the water and I only saved myself by clinging to the doorway
of the house. This being the case, we have never attempted to check the
slaughter of these animals and they are now so far reduced in numbers on the
Shire as no longer to be a source of danger. They are still abundant on parts
of the coasts of Lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika, and all the other big lakes, and are
found in every river with a sufficient amount of water to immerse their bodies.-
They are said to visit Lake Chilwa at certain times of the year, travelling
overland from the Shire. When we have reduced the numbers of the hippo-
potamus to something more compatible with the safety of canoe travelling we
shall probably add him to the list of protected animals, as we have no desire
to bring about the absolute extinction of one of the few great survivors of the
Tertiary Epoch.
Pigs are represented in British Central Africa by the bush pigs {Potamock^rus
Afncanus and P.johnstoni) and the wart hog {Phacochcerus cethiopicus).
The bush pigs chiefly frequent the hills and mountains, though they are also
found in the plains near rivers. They are weird looking creatures with long
wiry hair which is yellow and grey with a few white marks. Along the back
1 Summarized the revised classification of the horses might stand thus :
A. True horses — Equus caballus.
Equus prjevalski,
B. Asses — Equus kiang,
Equus hemi'onus,
Equus astnus.
Equus somalicus.
C. Stfiped horses — Equus quagga.
Equus tigrinus.
E.t.f burckelli.
E.t.^ chapmani,
E.t.f grantt,
Equus grevyi.
Equus zebra.
* Though the hippopotamus will go into the Indian Ocean off the mouths of big rivers and though it
can if need be swim across any African lake, still one never meets with them as a rule much out of their
depth. They do not care for swimming but prefer walking along the bed of rivers or shallow lakes below
the surface or resting thereon, rising every now and then to the surface to breathe and float.
ZOOLOGY
297
HEAD OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS
there is a considerable whitish mane. The bush pigs are closely allied to the
Red river hog of West Africa.^
The young of the bush pig are spotted and striped with white as are the
young of almost all members of the genus Sus. This is not the case with the
' When this chapter had been written I learnt through Mr. W. E. de Winton that Dr. Forsyth Major,
after examining the pigs' skulls in the British Museum sent home by mc in 1889, had determined a new
species which he had named Potaniochients johnstoni, and which is remarkable as being an intermediate
form between the Bush pigs and the True pigs.
298 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
young wart hogs, which are born without these white markings. The wart hog
is chiefly distinguished from the true pigs by the reduction in number of its
upper incisor teeth. In young animals one pair of perfectly useless incisor teeth
— the outermost pair — is retained, but these fall out in the old males. In old
animals it sometimes happens that there are few teeth left in the head except
the molars and the canine tusks. There are also peculiarities in the number
and shape of the molar teeth which separate these animals from the typical
pigs. In the male there is very little hair on the body except along the line of
the back where a thin mane of very long coarse bristles extends from the top
of the head to the tail. This mane is not erect but falls over on either side.
Around the chest there is also a frill of whitish bristles. The rest of the body
is nearly bare but is sprinkled with a bristly growth. My illustration, which
was drawn from life, will give some idea of this extraordinary creature. I kept
a wart hog for over a year at Zomba as a pet. He was brought down from the
Lake Mweru district by Mr. Crawshay and is now in the Zoological Gardens.
The animal derives its name from the huge excrescences or warts on the face,
four in number — the large ones seemingly serving as defences to the eyes and
two small ones on either side of the nasal bones not sufficiently developed as
yet to be of any particular use.
The wart hog prefers a dry country and likes a loose sandy soil in which
it burrows, or at least is thought to burrow. In the opinion of some observers
it does riot make these holes itself but occupies the lair of some other animal,
or a natural crevice in any mound. The natives state that the female wart hog
seldom has more than two young ones at a time. Certainly the number of teats
is much reduced, being only four, which are inguinal in position. The female is
a good deal smaller than the male and has not quite such a preposterous
development of head, nor are her tusks nearly as large.
As it exists, the mature male wart hog looks like a beast of another epoch.
I doubt if there is any other mammal whose head is so disproportionately large.
The existence of the girafife in British Central Africa is still a moot question.
The natives report its presence in the Luangwa Valley with very circumstantial
details and they are probably telling the truth ; but up to the present time no
European has sighted the animal in that country, nor have any tangible proofs,
such as skulls, or tails, or skins, been sent back as evidence of its existence.*
We have seen so few specimens of the giraffe living or dead in England, and
those specimens commonly exhibited have not been very good ones that
perhaps we do not realise the remarkable fact that one species or sub-species
of the giraffe is really a three-horned animal. I saw recently at the British
Museum a head from Somaliland in which the central horn between the eyes
was nearly six inches in length. As a matter of fact the giraffe is an animal
which has lost its horns and retained little more than the basal portion, the
bony cores from which the horns (probably in the form of antlers) once
grew. An analogy may be found in the prong buck of North America, an
animal which appears to be very distantly related to the stock from which
the giraffe sprang. Imagine the horn cores of the prong buck increased in
growth till they resemble those of the muntjac deer and you have something
answering the present condition of the giraffe's so-called "horns."
^ It is a point so interesting as to be worth a special expedition on the part of some enterprising
sportsman-naturalist, as it would be desirable to know whether it differed in any way from the giraffe of
South Africa and is more akin to the giraffe of East Africa and the Northern Sudan. This subject has
lately been discussed by Mr. W. E. de Winton.
A wartIhog
<
X
ZOOLOGY
303
The buffalo of British Central Africa is the type known as the Cape Buffalo
{Bos caffer). The range of this species probably extends from South Africa up
the eastern half of the continent to the Victoria Nyanza, the White Nile,
and Somaliland. Its place in Abyssinia and the Egyptian and Central Sudan is
taken by another variety or species known as the Central African Buffalo.^ It
extends into West Africa as far as the southern boundaries of the district
of Angola proper and thence over the whole Zambezi region into the south and
east of the Congo Free State, reaching more than half-way up the coast of
Tanganyika and being found on the upper waters of the Lualaba and Kasai.
Thenceforward to the north and west its place is taken by the curious short-
horned red buffalo of West Africa, which is the only species found in the forest
part of the Congo Basin and along the west coast and in Nigeria.
It may be interesting to give here a drawing of the horns of this forest
buffalo of the Congo, which I did at Bolobo
on the Upper Congo some years ago. On
the whole I am disposed to regard the forest
buffalo of West Africa as rather a degenerate
than a primitive type of buffalo. It is evidently
a deteriorated race of the Bos caffer}
Buffaloes are very abundant all over
British Central Africa, but of course are
retiring from the vicinity of European settle-
ments. They are also frequenters of the
plain rather than the mountains, though they
will ascend high plateaux in the dry season
for the sake of the green herbage. The
favourite places of their resort are wide
marshy districts like the Elephant Marsh near Chiromo, where even after the
most wanton and indiscriminate slaughter at the hands of Europeans^ they
exist in large numbers — thousands, it is said. Like the Indian buffalo they
are fond of wallowing in mud and water, though perhaps not as aquatic in
their habits as the last-named animal. They are dangerous beasts to tackle
under certain conditions though less dangerous than the elephant and lion.
It is seldom that they will take aggressive action against the sportsman when
not wounded.*
HORNS OF CONGO BUFFALO
^ Bos aquinoctialis. This variety of buffalo is much more interesting than appears from the meagre
accounts given of it by all naturalists. It is to some degree a connecting link between the Aft-ican
and Indian buffaloes. The horns are much longer, and are directed fieirther backwards than in the Cape
buffalo. There is not such an exaggerated boss on the forehead.
* The most primitive known buffalo or ox is the Anoa of the island of Celebes. This creature shows
signs of affinities with the Tragelaphs (a group of [so called] bovine antelopes, to which the Nilgai, the Kudu,
Eland, and Bushbuck belong). Even at the present day with the aid of the Philippine Islands buffalo,
there are existing a series of gradations leading up to the long-homed buffalo of India, and thence through
the Central African buffalo to the Cape species which may be regarded as the culmination of Bubaline
development at the present day. But fossil remains from both North and South Africa show us that there
existea buffalo in this continent in past ages the development of whose horns was gigantic though perhaps
not as extravagant even as some extinct Indian species. Mr. Lydekker states that a fossil buffalo skull
from South Africa showed horn cores which were 14 feet long, and to this length must, of course, be added
that of the horn covering — a foot or so longer. One weeps to think of the degenerate days in which we
live. The big game we pursue are but small deer compared with the glorious beasts which surrounded our
pithecoid ancestors.
* Now checked by this stretch of country having been declared a Government Game Reserve.
* Occasionally out of stupid curiosity or because the traveller is standing in the way of a newly
bom buffalo calf, buffaloes will advance unprovoked to the attack. I remember visiting the Songwe plains
at the north end of Lake Nyasa in 1889 for the purpose of sport, accompanied by the late Mr. Kydd.
304
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
'Livingstone's eland"
Even when wounded it is doubtful whether they charge in the open. The
danger in connection with shooting buffaloes is this, that the wounded beast
retires into long grass or thickets. If the sportsman follows him up then the
buffalo puts no bounds to his rage and is also very cunning. He will charge
from out of his hiding place and pursue his enemy with a great deal of
intelligence, that is to say not altogether in blind rage, and if he succeeds
Soon after we had landed at the mouth of the Songwe we found ourselves in the midst of an enormous herd
of buffalo. So far from their retreating before us these animals began to toss their heads and paw up the
ground. It seemed as though an imprudent shot would provoke a charge of buffaloes which would drive
us into the crocodile-haunted reeds of the marshy lake margin, so that at first we refrained from firing until
one bull buffalo advanced in front of the herd and came so near that we had no option but to shoot. The
beast fell, then rose to his feet, but instead of charging made for the river, and was dropped by two more
shots from our rifles. The rest of the buffaloes turned and fled.
ZOOLOGY
305
in catching him up will gore him and kneel on him. But I can obtain no
authentic record of a buffalo when wounded in open country immediately
charging his assailant.
Buffalo calves are born about the end of the rainy season (March, April).
Although quickly tamed they are very difficult to rear. They easily catch cold
and do not much appreciate cows* milk. I have been so anxious to start the
domestication of these fine animals that I brought a number of tame Indian
buffaloes from Bombay in 1895, and induced one of them to suckle a young
African buffalo. The little beast throve until he was almost ready for weaning,
but suddenly caught a chill and died of pneumonia. The Indian buffaloes
I introduced are still in the country, not one of them having died, and I am still
hoping that they may be used as foster mothers to rear up the newly caught
young of the African buffalo until we have established a tame breed of this
animal, which should be as useful in a domesticated state as is the long-horned
buffalo of India.
The Tragelaphs are well represented in this part of Africa by Livingstone's
Eland, the Kudu, the beautiful Tragelaphus angasi, or Inyala,* by the remark-
able Situtunga {Tragelaphus speke?) and the South
African variety of the bush buck {Tragelaphus scriptus
roualeyni).
The Eland of Central Africa differs from the
variety found in South and East Africa by its
yellower colour, and by its retention of the Tragela-
phine white stripes. Also I have never seen a
specimen shot in British Central Africa which possessed
that great development of " brush " on the nose so
characteristic of the South African Eland. The Derbian
Eland of West Africa is however quite a separate
species from the Eland of Central Africa (Livingstone's
Eland), which latter is after all little but a sub-species
of the common form. The Central African Eland has
in the male larger and longer horns than the South
African species. I give an illustration here of what I
believe is an exceptionally fine male eland head. It
was shot not far from my house at Zomba by one of
my native hunters and was presented by me to the
Zoological Society. The length of these horns is 29J
inches, and they are \6\ inches apart from tip to tip.
The eland is seldom met with in the low-lying plains,
frequenting mostly wooded hills and high-lying open
grass-covered districts on the plateaux. This also is
the favourite habitat of the kudu, the glory of the
Tragelaphs, an animal to which shrines should be
erected and worship tendered on account of its beauty.
The Central African kudu is almost the finest develop-
ment of the genus. Mr. Sharpe measured one pair of horns shot in Nyasaland
which gave 62 inches as the length of the horn following the curve. I have
myself a pair of horns which measure 48 inches along the curve.
I am inclined to think that the Inyala antelope of British Central Africa is
limited in its range as far as we yet know to the Western and Upper Shire
* Locally called Boo,
HORNS
OF Livingstone's eland
3o6
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
districts and the Lake Mweru district and may be a different variety to the
Inyala of South East Africa, inasmuch as the males retain white spots and
stripes on the skin to a greater extent, and do not assume such a grey fur at
maturity. The Inyala, locally called Boo, is a very rare animal frequenting
dense thickets. Its horns somewhat resemble those of the bushbuck, but are
much larger proportionately, much wider apart and slenderer. They may
measure as much as 22^ inches in length along the curve. (I have a pair of
horns giving this measurement.) I have only twice seen skins of the adult
A MALE BUSHBUCK ( Trogelaphus scriptus)
animal. They were extraordinarily beautiful in colour — the females a deep
chestnut with narrow stripes and spots in pure white and a black line along
the middle of the back from the neck to the base of the tail; the male purplish-
grey with white markings. The Situtunga ( Tragelaphus spekei) is not found in
Nyasaland but is met with abundantly in the swamps of Lakes Mweru and
Bangweolo, in the Luangwa Valley and in other parts of British Central Africa.
This Tragelaph has taken to an entirely aquatic residence and the hoofs are
enormously developed.^ The horns of the Situtunga, unlike those of the rest
of the animals of the genus Tragelaphus, have two turns instead of a turn and
* Another instance of great development of the hoof for the purpose of traversing marshy ground
exists in Tragelaphus grains of West Africa.
HEAD OF A MALE KUDU
ZOOLOGY 309
a halt} This aquatic Tragelaph further differs from the other members of the
genus in having l6ng, coarse, uniformly grey-coloured hair without white spots
or stripes in the adult. The young are said to be faintly striped and spotted
with white.
There remains to be considered the Bushbuck of Central Africa. I am
inclined to think that the naturalists are wrong in the classification of the Bush-
bucks. They should restore to them that designation Tragelaphus silvaticus
which was formerly applied to the Bushbuck of South-Central and East Africa,
making it a separate species from Tragelaphus scriptus^ the " Harnessed
Antelope " of West Africa. The coloration of the Bushbuck is usually uniform
between South and East Africa and so different to that of the Harnessed
Antelope that it is scarcely logical to class it as merely a variety of the latter.
Besides which the horns of the Bushbuck are usually long ^ and more slender than
those of the Harnessed antelope and offer a more distinct beginning of a second
curve. The Bushbuck is extremely common throughout British Central Africa
and is without exception the most delicious eating of any mammal in the world.
In tenderness and flavour its flesh surpasses the best Welsh mutton, or any
venison. Here, emphatically, is an animal which should be domesticated and
saved from extinction. The young and the females of the Bushbuck are a
bright yellow chestnut in colour, with well marked white spots and stripes, but
the adult males become bluish grey, sepia and black, with the inner side of the
legs white, a few white spots and one or two white stripes on the hind quarters,
two white bars on the front of the throat and neck, and the usual tragelaphine
white spots and stripe on the face. There is also a scattered white stripe down
the line of the back.
There now remains to be considered the great group of true antelopes, or
ring-homed Bovidce, found in British Central Africa.^ These are represented
by the following antelopes : — One or more species of Duyker {Cephalophus), the
Oribi, Steinbok {Raphicerus), Klipspringer, Reedbuck, five species of Cobus, the
Roan antelope. Sable antelope, Pallah, Lichtenstein's Hartebeest, possibly the
Tsess^be (Damaliscus\ and the Blue Gnu. There should be one or more
representatives of the little Livingstone's Antelopes {Nesotragus\ but no
specimens have yet been obtained.
The Duyker antelopes are neither so numerous in species nor in actual
numbers as they are in South and West Africa. They frequent chiefly the
low-lying plains in the vicinity of water courses. The Cephalophines are an
interesting antelopine group to which is related the four-horned antelope of
India. Although in regard to the modification of their toes by which all
1 The kudu and the lesser kudu have three turns, the eland two turns and a half, the situtunga two
turns, and the remainder of the African Tragelaphs one turn and a half, and the Nilgai of India only
the beginning of a turn.
• A pair in my possession measures 17} inches along the curve.
' There are certain families of mammals and of birds in the classification of which most naturalists,
with the exception of the late Professor Garrod, seem to miss the meaning of a conjunction of charac-
teristics and to fail to grasp true relationships, mistaking parallel developments for eWdence of direct
inter-connection. In no mammalian group has this persistence in error been more remarkable than in the
arrangement of the Bovzdce. That vague and facile term '* antelope" has been made to include at least
two groups of hollow-homed ruminants which are only akin one to the other in that they can prove descent
from a common ancestral type of hollow-horned niminant. The term ** antelope '* should be reserved to
the ring-homed ruminants and should include gazelles and all the African and Indian antelopes which
have annulated horns. The goats and sheep and capricoras are nearly-allied sub-families. Another group
of equal value is the Oxen, or Bavina, and a third similarly distinct, is the Tragilaphina^ or Tragelaphs.
The diagram on next page will show my idea of the right classification, arrangement and development of
the Bavida, It is based on ideas expressed many years ago by the late Professor Alfred Garrod.
3IO
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
vestiges of the second and fifth metacarpal and metatarsal bones are lost, and
even the false hoofs representing these missing toes are often flattened and
reduced in size (so that some Duykers are almost completely two-toed), yet in
other respects they may be regarded as a low type of antelope not far removed
from the central stem from which the ring-homed ruminants branched out
The nose is quite naked and irresistibly suggests a resemblance to that feature
in the pig-like Dorcatherium of West Africa, which is the nearest living repre-
sentative of the type from which all existing ruminating Artiodactyles sprang.
I believe some anatomists have discovered minute traces of an upper canine
which does not pierce the gum in the young of Cephalophus, The species of
R Lf M ,
DIAGRAM SHOWING ORIGIN AND RELATIONSHIPS OF MODERN GROUPS OF HORNED RUMINANTS
this genus which is found in Nyasaland is the common Duyker, Cephalophus
grimmu
A remarkable little antelope of the genus Raphicerus was recently discovered
by Mr. Sharpe at the south end of Lake Nyasa and sent home. It proved
to be a new species of Steinbok and was named R. sharpei after its discoverer.
It is illustrated in the Zoological Society's Proceedings of April ist, 1897, and
is closely allied to the Steinboks of South Africa.
The little Klipspringer is found in all rocky places and upon high mountains
like Mlanje. The stories told of its jumps are almost as marvellous as those of
the Ibex and Chamois. I have not myself witnessed any of these wonderful
leaps but it is quite conceivable that they occur. Exaggerated stories are told
of its being able to place all four feet together on a space not larger than a
crown piece. Of course this is impossible, but it can stand with all of its four
ZOOLOGY
3"
feet together on an area which might be covered by a very small saucer. The
fur has a curious brittle, shiny appearance, as though the hairs were thickening
into spines. The Oribi of British Central Africa is Ourebia hastata and also
comes from the Portuguese province of Mozambique.
The Reedbuck of British Central Africa is a large animal of the gen\is
Cervicapra, The variety found in the Mweru district has a well marked black
r^
<^j
A KLIPSI'RINGER
patch on the crown between the horns.^ I have sometimes thought that the
Reedbucks (which I illustrate on next page) found at the north end of Nyasa
were exceptionally large. The drawings made are from specimens shot by
myself in 1889. At the time the beasts were killed I almost thought that they
were a small species of Cobus antelope, a genus into which Cervicapra insensibly
melts. The Reedbuck is good eating and ranks next to the Bushbuck as
^ So states Mr. Oldfield Thomas in his paper on the mammals of British Central Africa ; he further
says that similar patches have been noticed in South African specimens.
112
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
A MALE KEEDBUCK
palatable meat I do not think the Reedbuck is met with on high mountains
or that it even cares much for hilly country, but it is very abundant on elevated
plateaux of gentle undulating surface. Ordinarily it frequents the grassy plains
and answers to its name by affecting beds of high reeds. On the Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau one used to
see it with its head just appear-
ing out of the high grass and
tall yellow ground orchids of the
genus Lissochilus}
There are, as I have said,
five species of Cobus^ or water-
buck, to wit: — (i) the well-known
South African waterbuck {Cobtis
ellipsiprymnus) ; (2) the nearly
allied Cobus crawshayi\ (3) the
Lech we (Cobus lechwe) ; (4) the
Puku {Cobus vardont) ; and (5)
the Senga Cobus {Cobus sen-
ganus) also discovered by Mr.
Crawshay. The common water-
buck is almost the largest
member of the genus. The
female, as is the case throughout
all the Cervicaprines, is without
horns. Crawshay's waterbuck.
which is found in the Mweru
district and probably thence
^ See illustration, page 208 in Chapter
A MALE REEDBUCK's HEAD VIII.
ZOOLOGY
313
westward to the vicinity of Angola (where a closely allied form, Cobus
penricei has been found), is slightly smaller than the common waterbuck.
The waterbucks of Crawshay and Penrice differ from the common species
in the following points: — The horns are smaller and less incurved, the rump
is yellow white instead of being a mere white streak sandwiched between
two patches of dun colour. Penrice's waterbuck differs from Crawshay's very
slightly if at all. The known specimens, however, are slightly larger and rather
blacker in colour and the horns are proportionately shorter. The common
waterbuck is extremely hairy especially about the neck, the female being in my
opinion even hairier than the male. She bears an extraordinarily superficial
resemblance to the hind of a large species of deer. These animals have such a
MALE WATERBUCK {Cobus ellipsiprymnus)
strong coarse smell (something like that of a goat) that the natives say they
can often smell them before they see them. In going through the Elephant
Marsh with natives they have suddenly commenced sniffing the air and declared
that waterbuck were near, and they have been usually right. From this cause
and also because it is coarse and tough in grain, the meat of the waterbuck is
not at all liked by Europeans, though I have found the flesh of the female and
of the young ones just tolerable when well cooked. The Puku is not found in
Nyasaland proper, but it is fairly abundant in the country west of the Nyasa
watershed from Lake Mweru southwards, and at the south end of Lake
Tanganyika. This animal is considerably smaller than the common waterbuck.
It is a bright chestnut yellow in colour and does not assume the grey tint so
characteristic of the larger waterbucks. Mr. Sharpe states that it is still found
in enormous herds about the river Luapula and in the vicinity of Lake Mweru.
As regards its habits, it is fond of entering the water, but not so much as the
3^4
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
closely related Cobus lechwe. A smaller Cobus closely allied to the Puku has
recently been discovered in the Senga country (Luangwa Valley) by Mr.
Crawshay and has been described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas under the designa-
tion of Cobus senganus. In colour it is said to be rather darker than the
Puku. The Lechwe waterbuck is one of the most water-loving antelopes
known, though it must be admitted that it is some degrees less aquatic than
Speke's Tragelaph which has been longer at this mode of life and has there-
fore developed very remarkably extended hoofs. The Lechwe though having
slightly longer hoofs than in the other forms of Cobus, does not present any
very striking development of the foot for life in the water, except that at the
)fr'*/i^
FEMALE WATERBUCK
back of the toes, between the false and the big hoofs, there is a naked place not
covered with hair. Mr. Sharpe and other observers relate that the Puku and
Lechwe constantly associate together in large herds. Up to the present time
the range of the Lechwe does not seem to extend farther north than Lake
Mweru, nor farther east than the watershed of Lake Nyasa.
Amongst other heterodox opinions I hold that the Hippotragine section of
antelopes, including the Oryxes, was developed from a form of waterbuck.
This would appear to be absurd to anyone who merely looked at the commoner
forms of Cobus ; but that remarkable and most beautiful antelope, Mrs. Gray's
Waterbuck {Cobus marid) of the White Nile irresistibly suggests in the shape of
its horns and the coloration of the face an approach to the Equine antelopes
which again have given rise to the Addax and to the four species of Oryx.
The Hippotragine or Equine antelopes are represented in British Central
THE SABLE ANTELOPE
ZOOLOGY 317
Africa by the Sable and the Roan. Curiously enough there is no representative
of the Oryx genus throughout all British Central Africa. This type at the present
day is confined in its distribution to South Africa, East, North-East and North
Africa, and Southern Arabia. As in the case of the zebra, of the giraffe, and of
other animals quoted there is a complete break in the distribution of this genus
between Mozambique and the West Coast of Africa. The Sable antelope is
extremely common. Next to the Kudu, perhaps, or Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck, it
is the most beautiful antelope that exists. As large as a small ox with the
graceful shape of a beautiful stag, the colours of the male being jet black and
snow-white (and of the female bright chestnut-brown and white), the head
surmounted by a magnificent pair of horns symmetrically ringed and describing
almost the curve of a half circle, the long neck clothed abundantly with a black
mane, the large, long-lashed eye, and the tufted tail, make up a beast of grand
proportions, striking coloration and beautiful detail, whose extermination would
be one of the worst crimes that humanity has ever perpetrated.
Fortunately the Sable antelope is still extremely common in Nyasaland
though it is not certain that its range extends east over the Mozambique
province, or westward over British Central Africa. It is found, I believe, on the
SaYsi river (on the eastern portion of the NyasarTanganyika plateau). I think
it is met with in parts of East Africa, and I believe that I saw one specimen of
it near Taveita and another near the river Ruvu, as far north as the Kilimanjaro
district. [It is sometimes difficult to tell at a distance the young male or female
Sable from a Roan antelope, therefore as I did not secure the beast I cannot
speak positively on this latter point though in my diary I wrote most positively
on this occasion that I had seen a sable and was struck by the vivid contrast
between its black and white coloration.] In any case it is not confined
to South Africa, a legend still appearing in circles which should be well
informed. At the present time it is one of the commonest antelopes in the
Shire Highlands and throughout Nyasaland, where it frequents the wooded
hills rather than the low-lying plains. I have myself only seen it in what
might be called scrub country — rough land of red clay and rocks on which
grow trees of sparse foliage and of no great height. In spite of their very
marked colours both the male and female sable become singularly in-
visible in this low forest, their bodies getting mixed up with the glooms of
tree trunks in black shadow or brown light There would appear to be these
differences between the sable of Nyasaland and that of South Africa. The
Nyasaland variety is rather larger, the neck is somewhat thicker but the mane
a little shorter and the ears are slightly longer and have a black tip at the end
which I believe is missing in the South African sable.
It would seem to be a general rule that where the sable is found there the
roan antelope, its near congener; is not to be met with. This animal is coloured
somewhat like the immature male and female of the sable — chestnut with a
tendency to black, and with bold white markings. Its horns are not so
handsome as those of the sable. The ears are even longer than in the
sable and the tips more recurved and ending in a tuft of black hair.^ In
all the Hippotragine antelopes (including the Oryxes) the female is horned
as well as the male, a sign, of course, of great specialisation. The range of
the roan antelope apparently lies mainly outside British Nyasaland though
both Mr. Sharpe and myself have sometimes thought that it existed in the
Ruo district and across that river in Portuguese territory, and it has been shot
^ The culmination of this development of the ear is seen in the fringe-eared Oryx {Oryx calloiis).
3i8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
in the North Nyasa district by Mr. G. A. Taylor. It undoubtedly occurs on
the east coast of Lake Nyasa for it has been shot there by Major Frank
Trollape. To the west of Nyasaland it is the common Hippotragine species
and its range probably extends north and east to the Egyptian Sudan and
thence westward across Nigeria to Senegambia. A third species of Hippotragus
— the Blaubok — was a bluish-grey in colour and more uniform in tint with
longer hair and in some respects more suggestive of the Cobus antelopes.
Like many other remarkable creatures in South Africa it was promptly
exterminated by the European settlers.
Probably evolving from some Cervicaprine form we have the beautiful pallah,
or mpala antelope (^pyceros melavipns), the shape of whose horns will be
shown in the accompanying drawing which however illustrates the small Nyasa-
land variety. ^ The coloration of the pallah is a rich dark chestnut with a white
stomach and a black longitudinal mark in the front of the feet. It also is
A KOAN ANTELOPE {H if>potragus equtnus)
marked by a black tuft of hair on the inner side of the hind legs below the
tarsus. The lesser pallah, a variety named after myself because I happened to
send home the first specimens, is the one usually met with in Nyasaland, the
larger pallah being found in the regions to the west and east. The accompany-
ing illustration is the head of Johnston's pallah which differs from the more
typical animal in the smaller size of the horns and body. Mr. Sharpe states that
in his opinion the pallah all over Central Africa affects a special kind of countr>^
— forested plains with open glades of short grass not far removed from water.
The Nyasaland Gnu or Wildebeest would appear to be a new species.
Hitherto it has been treated as a new variety of the Blue Wildebeest {Con-
nochoetes taurinus). The first specimen sent home was killed by Mr. H. C.
McDonald of the British Central Africa Administration in the vicinity of Lake
Chilwa. This example was figured in the Zoological Society's Proceedings
for 1896.2 Subsequently a fine specimen of this gnu was killed by Mr. James
Harrison, an English sportsman, who was travelling in the Portuguese territories
between Quelimane and the Protectorate. Mr. Harrison also saw a small
herd of this gnu about sixty miles to the south of Lake Chilwa. The one
* A good drawing of the head of the larger pallah will be seen in my book on the Kilimanjaro
Expedition, page 219. ^ p. 616.
ZOOLOGY
t
JOHNSTON'S PALLAH
which he shot he obtained about thirty miles to the south-east of Mount
Chiperone.^ I should say that the Nyasa gnu (the range of which in Nyasaland
* A small photograph was taken of the head, and this was subsequently sent to Mr. W. E. de
Winton, an English naturalist, who is making a special study of African mammals. To the courtesy of Mr.
dc Winton I owe the loan of Mr. Harrison's photograph from which together with other data I possessed I
have made the accompanying drawing of the head of the Nyasa gnu. Mr. Harrison's photograph is par-
ticularly valuable for this reason. It confirms the presence on the head of this gnu of a white chevron
320
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
THE NY AS ALAND GNU {Cottnochates taurinus johmtoni)
appears to be confined to the vicinity of Lake Chilwa and to the Elephant Marsh ^)
is the least differentiated of all the gnus and bears more signs of relationship
to certain forms of hartebeest.
The position and origin of the gnu in the classification of the antelopes has
always been a difficult one for naturalists to settle. It is obviously a very
specialised animal and yet in some respects it retains more primitive charac-
teristics than the hartebeest. For instance, the female has four tnamitKB, whereas
in the hartebeests there are only two. Also the length of the head is not so
disproportionately great as in the hartebeest though it possesses a peculiar
across the ridge of the nose just below the line of the eyes. This white mark had become somewhat
effaced in the dry skin which we sent home, and its extent and direction were not sufBciently realised by
the artist who drew the picture for the Zoological Society's Proceedings. Mr. Harrison's photograph is
important, therefore, as showing the proper direction taken by the white marking of the face and the clear-
ness of this marking which has a definite outline, and is not hazy as represented m the Zoological Society's
plate. The presence of this white mark across the face, together with other peculiarities, almost constitutes
the gnu of Nyasaland a different species to the Blue Wildebeests of South and East Africa. If this is the
case it will be another curious instance of the closer relationship in mammalian types which subsists
between North-East and South Africa as compared to South-Central Africa. It will be a parallel to the
eland and the zebra.
* Though the existence of a gnu is reported from the Luangwa Valley, west of the Protectorate.
ZOOLOGY 321
development, of its own in the great breadth across the nose. On the whole,
I should think it likely that the gnu developed from an early type of hartebeest
somewhat similar to Bubalis swaynei.
One point about the gnu used to puzzle naturalists like Dr. Gray, who
founded their classification too much on external characters, and that was that
the gnu had no rings on its horns. They were apt therefore to dissociate it
from its nearest congeners among the antelopes and to class it with an
extraordinarily far-removed animal — the Budorcas of Tibet. Yet the gnu really
belongs to the group of antelopes and is derived from a form which once had
rings on its horns. Traces of these rings may not only be seen on the horns of
the most northern species of gnu, the white bearded gnu of East Africa
{Connockcetes albojubatus) but are present on the under side and in the
inner bend of the horns in female gnus when they have not had time to wear
the marks away by rubbing the horns on the ground or against trees. The male
gnu, however, has completely lost any trace of annulation, and in this resembles
(as a parallel case) the Budorcas of Tibet, and the musk-sheep {Ovibos) of
North America, both of which animals are aberrant types of Capricoms,
a central group having annulated horns (though the annulation on the horns
of the Capricorns is less marked than in the antelopes, goats and sheep). On
the whole I think the Nyasaland gnu from the shape of the horns and the fact
that the face is almost entirely without the great black brush which grows on it
in the other gnus, is the least differentiated of all the species of this remarkable
genus and comes nearest to a generalised type of hartebeest
We are now left with no order to discuss amongst the mammals but the
Edentates, the River Shire and the great lakes being without any cetaceous
animals such as the peculiar river dolphins which are found in the Amazon and
the Ganges. The Edentates, as far as I know, are only represented by one type
— the Manis or scaly Ant-eater. The Manis of British Central Africa is the
short-tailed species^ which extends in its range right across Africa from the
west coast to Natal and to Somaliland. It is very common in Nyasaland, but
only in the well-wooded country. Its food consists of white ants and other
insects. This animal has an extraordinary power of escaping from almost any
prison. Its powerful claws and the extraordinary leverage which it can exert
by means of its limbs and the tripod they form with tJie tail, the smallness
of its head and its remarkable " squeezability " and power of burrowing enable
the Manis to obtain egress from almost any place of confinement It can on
occasions dig up cement with its claws by scratching it away from the edge of
the wall. When shy and annoyed the Scaly Ant-eater rolls itself up into a ball.
It is then an awkward animal to lift and carry away as the fingers may get
between the interstices of the sharp-edged scales and be severely pinched. The
animal seems to know this and promptly contracts so as to catch the fingers
between the sharp edges.
The Orycteropus, or Aard Vark, of South and East Africa is so far as I know
entirely absent from British Central Africa — another animal whose range is
interrupted by this section of the continent It may yet be found (and if so it
will probably be met with in the Luangwa Valley or about Lake Mweru) but
no report of its existence has as yet come to hand.^
^ Manis temmincki,
* It b a curious point that such southern or eastern forms as are absent from Nyasaland but are still
found in British Central Africa are usually met with in the Mweni district. The country between Mweru
and Tanganyika would appear to be rather dry and desert-like, and more resembling the harsh steppes of
Equatorial East Africa and of South Africa.
21
322 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
APPENDIX I.
LIST OF MAMMALS RECORDED IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is principally based on the work of Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the Mammalian Deport-
ment at the British Museum of Natural Hbtory. This work is summed up in Mr. Thomas's paper in the
Zoological Society's Proceedings for April, 1897. The arrangement of the species, however, is my
own. In order to make the list complete I have also inserted between brackets species known to be
present in British Central Africa, though not represented by specimens sent to the British Museum or
Zoological Gardens. Where the species was new to science and made known through our collections,
sp. nov, is placed after the name.
Order, Primates.
[ffomo sapiens y sub-species cetkiops ; Bantu negroes.]
Fapio babuin ; the Yellow Baboon.
Represented by live animal in Zoological Gardens.
Papio pruinosus {sp. nov.); the Grey Baboon.
Discovered by Dr. Percy Rendall at the south end of Lake Nyasa. A remark-
able new species with fur of a hoary grey and dirty white colour, nearly allied to
Papto thoth of North-East Africa.
Cercocebus aterrimus ; the Black Mangabey.
Living specimen obtained by me from Lake Tanganyika and presented to
Zoological Gardens. Its actual habitat on the shores of Lake Tanganyika was
uncertain. It was given to me by an Arab of Ujiji— -said to come from N. Tangan-
yika ; scarcely to be included in a list of British Central African mammals except
that natives state the animal is also found in South Tanganyika and on the Luapula
River : a regular West African type.
Cercopithecus opisthostictus {sp, nov).
Discovered by Mr. Richard Crawshay in the Lake Mweru district : allied to
C. samango of South Africa {vide P.Z.S. of November 21, 1893).
Cercopithecus albigularis ; the white-throated grivet Monkey from the Shire province,
but probably spread throughout British Central Africa.
Cercopithecus moloneyi ; Moloney's monkey.
\Cercopithecus pygerythrus\\ the russet-rumped grivet Monkey.
Probably this is the common species of grivet so often seen as pets in European
settlements.
Cercopithecus stairsi ; Stairs*s monkey (P.Z.S. 1892, p. 580).
Colobus palliatus ; the white-thighed Colobus Monkey.
Found abundantly in the forested mountain regions to the west and north-west
of Lake Nyasa and thence westward to the Congo Free State. This species is also,
I believe, found on high mountains in East Africa; otherwise its affinities are
mainly West African.
Otogale kirki ; the Great Galago.
This lemuroid has hitherto only been met with in the Shire province.
Galago moholi.
ZOOLOGY 323
Order, Chiroptera.
Epomophorus crypturus ; the Hidden-tailed Fruit Bat.
Xaniharpyia siraminea ; the Yellow Fox-Bat.
Rhinohphus hildebranti\
Rhinolophus landeri vHorseshoenosed Bats.
Rhinolophus capensis J
Hipposiderus caffer.
NycUris hispida,
Vesperugo megalurus.
Vesper Hgb rendalli {sp. nov.) \ Rendall's Bat.
Discovered by Dr. Kendall ; a remarkable white-winged Bat.
Vesperugo nanus,
Scotophilus nigrita.
Order, Insectivora.
Rhynchocyon cirnei ; long-nosed jumping Shrew.
Petrodromus tetradaciylus ; rock-jumping Shrew.
Crocidura (species undetermined) ; small musk Shrew.
Order, Carnivora.
Felis leo; the Lion.
Felts pardus ; the Leopard,
Felis serval ; the Serval.
Felis caffra; the Kaffir Cat.
\Cynalurus jubatus'\ \ the Cheetah, found on Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau.
Hycena crocuta ; the spotted Hygena.
Viverra civetta ; the Civet.
[Genet ta ligrina]; the blotched Genet
Nandinia gerrardi; Gerrard's Paradoxure ; the " Palm Civet," found in N. Nyasaland.
Related to West African forms.
S£?S> } i^*'"— - " ^-«— •"
Rhyncogale melleri; the fruit-eating Mongoose.
Crossarchus fasciatus ; the banded Mongoose.
Allied to a West African form, and also found in South Africa.
Canis lateralis or Canis adustus ; the side-striped Jackal.
Lycaon pictus ; the Hunting Dog.
Shot by Mr. Crawshay in the Lake Mweru district, and by Mr. Sharpe at Zomba,
and reported from the Luangwa Valley and North Zambezia (M. Edouard Foa).
Foecilogale aibinucha ; a white-necked weasel.
[Mellivora ratel] ; the Honey-Badger.
I have had the young of this animal in my possession.
Lutra maculicollis ; spotted-necked Otter.
[Lutra capensis {!)]', the Cape Otter.
It is thought that dried skins of this animal have been seen in the natives'
possession.
324 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Order, Rodentia.
Sciurus mutabilis ; the changeable Squirrel.
Sciurtis palliatus ; the pale Scjuirrel.
Anomalurus cinereus; the grey flying Squirrel.
Mr. Oldfield Thomas adds this flying Squirrel to his list of Nyasaland mammals
as it was procured by another collection, not of our sending, from " Upper Ruvuma
River, towards Lake Nyasa." It would therefore come within the British Central
African province as defined by me. No specimen of a Flying Squirrel has yet
been sent home from within the actual limits of the British Central Africa
Protectorate.
Otomys irroratus.
Gerbillus afer; the Jerboa Rat.
Cricetomys gambianus ; the Gambian Bush Rat.
Golunda fallax.
Arvicanthis dorsalis,
Arvicanihis pumilio,
Mus rattus; the common Black Rat.
Mus dolichurus ; the long-tailed Tree Rat.
Mus natalensis.
Mus modestus.
Mus minutoides,
Mus incomtus.
Saccostomus campestris.
Acomys spinossissimus ; the Spiny Mouse.
Obtained by Dr. Percy Rendall in the South Nyasa district.
Dendromys mesomelas,
SUatomys protettsis,
Lophurotnys aguilus.
Myoscaiops argento-cintreus.
Aulacodus swindcrenianus ; the Ground Rat.
" Excellent eating."— H. H. J.
\Hystrix^ sp. inc^ \ Porcupine.
From the quills in the natives* possession there must be a porcupine in the
country, but the species is not yet determined. Native name : nungu. A smaller
species called " kanungu " is stated to exist also.
Lepus whytei (sp. nov.) ; Whyte's Hare.
Order, Ungulata.
Sub-order, Hyracoidea.
Frocavia johnsioni {sp. nov.)', Johnston's Hyrax.
Procavia brucei ; Bruce*s Hyrax.
Sub order, Proboscidea.
Ekphas africanus ; the African Elephant.
ZOOLOGY 325
Sub-order, Perissodactyia.
Rhinoceros bicornis ; the common African Rhinoceros.
[Rhinoceros simus ^] ; the square-lipped (white) Rhinoceros.
A pair of horns from the River Ruo was sent home in 1893 which strongly
resembled those of the '* white " rhinoceros.
Equus iigrinus; the Central African Zebra.
This I take as the type of the species of large Zebra of the plains, of which
Equus iigrinus burchelliy E, t chapmani^ and E, t. granti are sub-species.
Sub-order, Artiodactyla,
Poiamocharus johnsloni ; Johnston's Bush pig.
A connecting link between the True pigs {Sus) and the Bush pigs {Poiamo-
choerus),
Potamochcerus africanus ; the Bush Pig,
Allied to the Red River hog of West Africa.
Phacocharus athiopicus ; the Wart Hog.
[Giraffa camelopardalis] ; the Giraffe.
Reported to exist in the Luangwa Valley and in Ubena, N.E. of I^ke Nyasa.
Tragelaphus scriptus^ var, roualeyni ; Gordon Cumming*s Bushbuck.
The common bushbuck of South and East Africa.
Tragelaphus angasi ; the Inyala. (P.Z.S. 1892, p. 98; 1893, p. 507 and p. 729.)
Occurs along the west side of the River Shire and also in the Lake Mweru
district. This handsome Tragelaph is probably found in other parts of British
Central Africa as well as in Natal and South-East Africa.
Tragelaphus spekei ; Speke's Tragelaph.
Lives almost entirely in the water. Frequents the swamps of Bangweolo, Mweru
and the River Luapula.
Strepsiceros kudu ; the Kudu.
Oreas canna livingsionii ; Livingstone's Eland. The white-striped Eland.
Bos caffer; the Cape Buffalo.
Cephalophus grimmi ; the common Duyker Antelope.
Oreoiragus saiiator; the Klipspringer.
Ourebia hastata ; Peters' Oribi.
\Ourebia scoparia T\ \ the Cape Oribi.
This animal is briefly recorded in our collections from Lake Chilwa by Mr.
Oldfield Thomas under the name of Nanotragus scoparius (P.Z.S. 1894, p. 146).
As he has not repeated the name in his recent list of British Central Africa
mammals it may be that the specimens have since been referred to Peters' Oribi.
Raphicerus sharpei {sp, nov,) ; Sharpe's Steinbok.
Cervicapra arundinum ; the Reedbuck.
Cobus vardoni ; the Puku.
This waterbuck, of which I have horns in my collection, has been killed by Mr.
Sharpe in the Luangwa Valley and in the Mweru district.
Cobus senganus ; the Senga Puku.
A smaller species of Puku discovered by Mr. R. Crawshay in Northern Senga.
326 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Cobus lechwe ; the Lech we Waterbuck.
Found by Mr. Sharpe in the Mweru district, its farthest (known) northward range.
Cobus crawshayi (sp. nov.) ; Crawshay's Waterbuck.
Discovered by Mr. R. Crawshay in the Lake Mweru district ; remarkably similar
to Penrice's waterbuck in South-West Africa.
Cobus ellipsiprymnus ; the common Waterbuck.
^pyceros melampus ; the Pallah or Impala Antelope.
The larger pallah— the common type — is apparently found all over British
Central Africa to the west of the Nyasaland province {^ide P.Z.S. 1893, p. 728):
but in Nyasaland and the adjoining territory of Portuguese East Africa the small
Johnston's Pallah (-^E. melampus johnsioni^ sub-species nov.) is the prevailing or
exclusively represented type {vide P.Z.S. ).
\Pamaliscus sp. inc^ ; the Tsess^be ?
Mr. Sharpe believes he has seen in the Luangwa Valley an antelope allied to or
identical with the Tsess^be — or "Sassaby" — of South Africa. Mr. Poulett
Weatherley reports the same animal to exist in the Lake Bangweolo district.
Bubalis lichtensteini ; Lichtenstein's Hartebeest.
Connochoetes taurinus johnstoni (sub species nov,) ; the Nyasaland Gnu.
Found in south-east Nyasaland. A gnu is reported by the natives to exist in
south-west Nyasaland and in the Luangwa Valley and on parts of the Tanganyika
plateau. This may be the ordinary C. taurinus (Blue Wildebeest) or \hQ johnstoni
variety. The sub-species is determined by specimens shot by Mr. H. C. McDonald
of the B.C. A. A., and by Messrs. James Harrison and Kirby.
Hippotragus equinus ; the Roan Antelope. (P.Z.S. 1893, p. 728.)
This animal is not usually found concurrently with its near ally, the sable
antelope. It is consequently rare in or absent from Nyasaland proper (except in
the N. Nyasa and the Ruo districts), but is common to the west in the Luangwa
Valley, Mweru, and Tanganyika districts.
Hippotragus niger ; the Sable Antelope.
Common in Nyasaland, and said to be present in German and Portuguese East
Africa.
Order, Edentata.
Sub-order, Mams.
Manis temminckii ; the Scaly Ant-eater.
APPENDIX II.
GAME REGULATIONS OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
1. These Regulations shall apply to the killing, hunting, and capturing of all wild
beasts within the Protectorate.
2. For the purposes of these Regulations —
"Game reserve" means all the territories within the boundaries of the Elephant
Marsh Reserve and the Lake Chilwa Reserve respectively, as the same are described
in the first schedule; and
ZOOLOGY
327
"Kill, hunt, or capture" includes killing, hunting, or capturing by any methods,
also all attempts to kill, hunt, or capture, and "hunt" includes molesting in any
manner.
5. The Commissioner may from time to time, with the approval of the Secretary
of State, proclaim any other territory as a game reserve, or may, by Proclamation,
extend or restrict the limits of any game reserve; and thereupon these Regulations
shall apply to the territories affected by any such Proclamation as if they had been
constituted game reserves by these Regulations.
4. The Commissioner may in his discretion grant licences in such form as he
thinks fit in accordance with the following scale as regards the animals authorized to
be killed, hunted, or captured, the local limits to which the licence extends, and the
p>ayments to be made for the respective licences, that is to say: —
LiCENCB.
Wild Bbast.
Local Limits. Payment.
i
Licence (A) .
Licence (B) .
Licence (C) .
Any wild beast mentioned in
Schedule II. . . .
Any wild beast mentioned in
Schedule II., Part II.
Ditto
Any port of the Protectorate .
Ditto
Except within a game reserve.
3
Licence (A) includes the right to kill, hunt, or capture any wild beast whether
mentioned in Schedule II. or not
Licences (B) and (C^ include the right to kill, hunt, or capture any wild beast
except those mentioned m Schedule II., Part I.
None of these licences entitles the holder to kill, hunt, or capture any wild beast
upon, or to trespass upon, private property without the consent of the owner or
occupier.
5. A person may without any licence kill, hunt, or capture any wild beast not
mentioned in Schedule II. in any part of the Protectorate, except within a game
reserve or on private property.
6. The Commissioner may in his discretion grant any licence for which a higher
rate is payable in substitution for a licence for which a lower rate is payable, on
payment of the difference, or he may on such payment make the existing licence
available, by indorsement, as if it had been originally granted at the higher rate.
7. Every licence shall be in force for one year from its date, and shall then expire,
and every substituted or indorsed licence shall be in force for the residue of the year
for which, the original licence was granted.
8. Any person who kills, hunts, or captures any wild beast in contravention of
these Regulations shall, on conviction, be liable to the following penalties, that is to
say: —
(a.) If without the proper licence he kills, hunts, or captures any wild beast
mentioned in Schedule II., Part I., he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 50/., and,,
in default, to imprisonment for three months.
(^.) If without the proper licence he kills, hunts, or captures any wild beast
mentioned in Schedule II., Part II., he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 20/., or,,
in default, to imprisonment for two months.
328
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
(c.) If without holding any licence under these Regulations he kills, hunts, or
captures any animal whatever within a game reserve, or is found within a game reserve
under such circumstances as to show that he was in pursuit of animals, and was not
lawfully employed there, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 5/., or, in default,
to imprisonment for one month, without prejudice to his liability to any other penalty
under this Regulation.
9. Nothing in these Regulations shall be deemed to relieve any person from the
obligation of taking out any licence which for the time being is required to be taken
out for possessing or using a gun.
10. The Regulations of the 9th September, 1896, for the preservation of wild
game in certain parts of the Protectorate are hereby repealed.
11. These Regulations may be cited as "The Game Regulations, 1897."
SCHEDULE I.
Game Reserves.
I. The Elephant Marsh Reserve,
Commencing at the junction of the Ruo and Shire Rivers, the boundary of the Elephant Marsh
Reserve shall follow the right bank of the River Ruo as far as the Txa, Falls, and shall thence be
carried along in a straight line in a north-westerly direction until it strikes the left bonk of the River
Shire opposite the junction of the Mwanza with the Shire ; the boundary shall then cross the River
Shire and follow the right bank of the Mwanza River up stream to a point distant from the Shire
12 miles in a straight line; thence the boundary shall run in a southerly direction, keeping always at
a distance of 12 miles from the right bank of the Shire River until it reaches the boundary-line dividing
the Lower Shire district from the Ruo. It shall then follow that boundary-line in an easterly direction
until it strikes the right bank of the Shire River ; the boundary shall then follow the right bank of the
Shire River up stream to a point opposite the point of commencement, namely, the junction of the
Shire and the Ruo Rivers.
2. The Lake Chilwa Reserve,
Commencing at the source of the River Palombe in the Mlanje district, the boundary of the Lake
Chilwa Reserve shall be carried in an easterly direction to the source of the most southern affluent of
the River Sombani, and from this point shall be carried along a straight line in an easterly direction to
the Anglo-Portuguese frontier, which it shall follow to the shores of Lake Chilwa. The boundary shall
continue along the shore of the lake southward, westward, and northward, as ^ as the confluence of
the Likangala River. It shall then follow the course of the Likangala River up stream as far as the
eastern boundary of Messrs. Buchanan Brothers' Mlungusi estate, thence along the said eastern boundary
of the said estate southwards to a point on the left bank of the Ntondwe River. It shall then follow
the northern boundary of Mr. Bruce's Namasi estate eastwards until the said boundary reaches the
Palombe River, thence along the right bank of the Palombe River up stream to its source.
SCHEDULE II.
Part I.
Wild beasts in respect of which licence (A) is required :—
Elephant. Giraffe.
Rhinoceros. Gnu (Wildebeest).
ZOOLOGY
329
Part II.
Wild beasts in respect of which licence (B) or licence (C) is required : —
Zebra.
Wart hog {Phcuocha-rus),
Bush pig (Potamocharus),
Buffalo.
Eland.
Kudu.
Situtunga ( Tragelaphus spekei),
Inyala (7*. angasii),
Bushbuck (T: scriptus,)
Duyker {Cephalophm),
Oribi {OureSia).
Sharpens antelope (Raphicerus sharpd).
Klipspringer.
Reedbuck.
Puku (Cobus vardoni),
Scnga Puku (C. senganus).
Lech we (C. lechwe).
Crawshay's Cobus (C crawshayi),
Waterbuck (C. ellipsiprymnus).
Impala {^pyceros melanipus),
Hartebeest {Bubalis).
Tsessebe (Damaliscm),
Sable antelope.
Roan antelope.
THE ELEPHANT MARSH
As to the Avi-fauna : it is a country singularly rich in bird life. Amongst
the birds, however, occur the same curious gaps in the distribution of species
and genera which are found to the south of the Zambezi and in East Africa
but are wanting in this south-central part of the continent. The ostrich,
and the secretary-vulture, three genera of true vultures, nearly all the genera
and species of African larks and of bustards are represented in Africa south
of the Zambezi, skip British Central Africa, and reappear again north of the
Rufiji River extending thence northwards and westwards through East Africa,
across the Sudan to Senegambia. There is a great paucity of species or
genera amongst the guinea fowl ; practically the only guinea fowl ordinarily
fourid in British Central Africa is the common species, the origin of the
domestic bird, though Guttera edouardi, the crested guinea fowl is met with
near the Zambezi and on the Mozambique Coast. The sand grouse is only
330 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
found in one part of British Central Africa, in the Mweru district^ There
may be other examples to be quoted ; but no doubt the break in distribution
is less marked amongst the birds (which have easier means of distribution
and are less subject to the attacks of man) than among the mammals. It
will also be found that this breach in continuous distribution is less and less
apparent amongst reptiles and Batrachians, fishes and invertebrates. It is
practically confined to birds and mammals.
And now to notice some of the more remarkable birds which meet the
traveller's eye or deserve his attention in British Central Africa. Amongst
the Passerines there are two crows — possibly three — the great white -necked
raven (Corvultur albicollis) the common black and white crow [Conms scapu-
latus) and, I think, the black rook or crow, of South Africa {Corvus capensis).
Of this last named no specimen has been sent home, but I have seen it — or
a bird singularly like it, entirely black in plumage — on the upper part of
Mount Mlanje and on the higher plateaux of Zomba mountain. Of the two
first named crows the white- necked raven is extremely common in all the
hill country, while the black and white crow (though also visiting the hills)
replaces the larger bird in the plains. The white- necked raven has an
enormous beak from which feature the bird is named Corvultur. It is even
larger than the common raven and very handsome, its body being shiny,
almost bluish black and deep dull sepia black, with a large white patch on
the back of the neck, extending downwards till it nearly forms a white collar.-
The common black and white crow is found throughout Africa from the
verge of the Sahara to Natal ; but I have sometimes thought that it was
less prevalent in the interior, especially in the forest regions than on or near
the sea coast, where it is always the bird most commonly met with. It is
very useful as a scavenger and is not such a robber as the white-necked raven,
which, in spite of its beauty, one is obliged to destroy, as it carries oflT all
small ducks and chickens within its reach. There is no form of magpie or
jay ever met with in Tropical Africa. Amongst the starlings we have the
red-billed oxpecker.^ It is the mission of the red-billed oxpecker to cling
by its sharp claws to the bodies of buffaloes and other large herbivora and
remove from their skins the blood-sucking ticks. The beautiful glossy starlings
are represented by the genera Laniprotomis and Lamprocolius, One stammers
in admiration before these lovely birds whose plumage is iridescent purple,
emerald-green, bronze-red, and vivid ultramarine-blue. Their eyes are golden-
yellow. Their plumage is literally glossy, and although they seldom live long
in captivity, they become delightfully tame. It is only the mature birds that
assume these gorgeous colours ; the young begin by being brown with dull
mottlings — they look very like the young of the common starling — but
by degrees the gem-like feathers appear amongst the brown and gi-adually
the whole plumage is covered with this iridescent gloss. Another very
beautiful member of the starling group is the Atnydrus morio.
Amongst the Orioles we have three, two of which are widespread species and
yellow, grey, and black in colour, but one has proved to be entirely new to
science and was discovered by Mr. Whyte on Mount Chiradzulu in the Shire
Highlands and sent home by me in 1895 {Oriolus chlorocephalus). It has
^ Represented by one species only.
" This bird is illustrated in my Kilimanjaro book.
' Another curious instance of interrupted distribution is that of the common African oxpecker
{Buphaga Africana), which is found in north-east and north-west Africa, and in the Transvaal, but
not in the intervening districts of South-Central Africa.
ZOOLOGY 331
a grass-green head and throat, a golden yellow collar round the neck and the
same bright tint over the breast, stomach, and edges of the tail feathers ; it
is olive green on the back and middle of the tail ; the wings are blue-grey and
the same tint is on the outer tail feathers mixed with the yellow ; the eye
is crimson and the beak reddish-brown.
Weaver birds are well represented. There is an elegant Widow bird ( Vidua
paradised) the male of which in the breeding season develops enormous black
plumes as an addition to his tail feathers — plumes more than three times as
long as his body. The rest of the plumage is black, cream-yellow and chestnut
red. It is charming to see this bird' flying with an undulatory motion through
the air. So far from being impeded by its tail feathers in a high wind it is
as it were buoyed up by tl^ widespread plumes to which so disproportionately
small a body is attached. The Widow bird with its long black feathers may
bear some resemblance (especially the upper plumes which are crimped like
crape) to a widow's weeds, but is far from widow-like in disposition. The male
is one of the most uxorious of birds, each cock having a harem of ten to fifteen
hens devoted to him and on whom he lavishes great attention. He has an
innate conviction of his own beauty and is perpetually strutting about to show
off his plumes. Then there is the exquisite Bishop bird — flame-coloured and
black, the flame-coloured portion of the body being like plush in appearance.
This lovely creature is present in enormous numbers in the grasslands, and
to see these little soft balls of flame-coloured plush hanging to the grass stems
and fluttering about almost within reach of one's hands is one of the few
alleviations of the unspeakable misery of travelling through long grass in
Africa, the barbed seeds of which work their way through one's clothing until
they penetrate the skin.
Closely allied to the Weavers are the tiny Waxbills or Weaverfinches, some
of which for their minute size are only surpassed by humming birds. One
of these which is spread almost all over Tropical Africa is especially noticeable.
It is called by the French '* Cordon bleu " and is an exquisite mixture of smalt-
blue and grey. Others of these little Waxbills are rosy red, and when they
come with confident tameness to a clear patch of ground to feed on the grass
seeds they are so small and so exquisitely coloured that they seem like the pets
of a Lilliputian race. Of course there is a sparrow in Africa {Passer diffusus)
— common also to South Africa. The African buntings {Embertza and
Fringillaria) are pretty little birds of black, grey and yellow which have
a pleasing song. The Makua are very fond of catching and taming this bird
and keeping it in neatly made cages round their houses. When these men were
stationed at Zomba as soldiers they would speedily catch the buntings in small
traps, put them in tiny cages made of reeds, hang them up outside the hut
or barrack and in a week the bird would be perfectly tame and singing away
shrilly. Another favourite singing bird of the Makua, and one commonly
met with, is a close ally of the wild canary, the "Serin finch" {Serinus, the
same genus as the canary). These birds very much resemble the wil4 canary
in appearance. There are no less than three species in Nyasaland. Wagtails
of two or more species visit British Central Africa during the dry season,
presumably migrating thither from the winter of South Africa. They are liked
and protected by everyone — white and black — and flit about the native villages,
European settlements and Arab towns with charming familiarity and freedom
from fear. Their song is very pleasant.
There are two Pipits of the genus Anthus, three species of Thrush (which
332 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
sing most sweetly), there are Bulbuls of the genus Pycnonotus, numerous chats
(Saxicola), and twenty-five genera of Warblers, including actyally a nightingale!
— the nightingale of South Europe {Daulias pkilomela) which comes as a winter
visitor; so there is no lack of singing birds. Indeed both Mr. Whyte and
myself have remarked with emphasis at different times on the beauty of the
birds' songs in the hilly regions of British Central Africa. The chorus of
singing birds is quite as beautiful as anything one hears in Europe, thus quite
disposing of one of the numerous fictions circulated by early travellers about
the tropics, to the effect that the birds, though beautiful, had no melodious
songs, and the flowers, though gorgeous, no sweet and penetrating scents.^
The song of the Mlanje thrush {Turdus milanjensis) is scarcely to be told
from that of the English bird. Another warbler with a sweet song is the
Pycnonotus bulbul.
Three species of Swallow have been sent home in our collections, one of
which was new to science and came from the Mlanje plateau. It is interesting
to note that one of these birds is the common swallow which in its annual
migrations visits England. Apparently there are five species of Woodpeckers,
one a South African form, not before found north of the Zambezi, and two
which have never hitherto been obtained from farther south than Zanziban-
Three species of Honey-guides {Indicator and Prodotiscus) are found prett>'
generally over British Central Africa, though one does not always hear the same
tales there about the persistence of these birds in conducting men to the nests
of the wild-bee, as is the case in Southern and South- Western Africa, where to
meet the honey-guide is to be almost certain of obtaining a provision of delicious
honey.' We have found one new species of barbet {Smilorhis whytet) not
particularly remarkable for beauty, seeing how gorgeous some barbets can be.
Amongst Cuckoos there is the southern species of Centropus^ with black head,
chestnut wings and tail, and cream-coloured belly, which is exceedingly common
and not a nice pet to keep in the aviary because of its cruelty to smaller birds.
The Centropus cuckoo is remarkable for its musical call, which might be
expressed in the following notation : —
i
s
^^
■' ^ yZ-tt^g^
37— ^_f=i;i^:J3.^itJ aw .J
Tu! Tu! tu tu tu tu tu tu Tu!
This call sounds through all the hot hours of the day in the thick clumps of
grass or reeds. There are also among the cuckoos two allied to the common
species found in England, several golden cuckoos and a lovely creature of the
genus Coccystes which is a beautiful iridescent purple with a white stomach.
Among our collections there are two species of the Coly or mouse bird
(Colius). These little creatures have rather doubtful affinities but are related
to the cuckoos, the turacos, and other Picarian birds ; they have their four toes
so arranged that they can be turned almost any way, that is to say that the hind
toe can often be placed in a line with the three others in front, or two of the
toes can turn backwards. The Colies have a long graduated tail, nearly twice
^ Giptain Shelley, the chief authority on African birds, writes in the preface to his Birds of Afrua—
** Africa may fairly claim to be the metropolis of the song birds, for the bush resounds with their melody,"
^ Campothera smithii of South Africa and C malherbii and Dendroptcus zanxibari of East Africa.
^ Still the natives do attribute this faculty to the Indicators whose native name is "nsasu" or
** nsadzu." The honey-guide, they say, does not care about the honey but hopes to obtain the young bees
in the comb.
ZOOLOGY 333
the length of the body. The head is surmounted by a crest, generally abased,
there is a whitish cere over the beak and the beak itself is generally red with
rather a wide gape, the upper mandible turned down something like the beak
of a falcon or of a turaco. The Colies frequent the low trees or bushes of the
forest. They creep and run about the branches like mice which accounts for
their common name in South Africa. Their plumage is greyish-brown, with
a faint striation.
In an earlier chapter of this book I have dwelt on the beautiful green
turacos with their crimson pinions. These lovely birds are represented by three
species in British Central Africa — Turacus livingstoni, Gallirex chlorochlamySy
and Schizorhis concolor. The first named is grass-green with dark blue wing
coverts and tail, a white tip to the graceful crest and the usual crimson
pinions. The second, Gallirex, is a dark indigo blue, shot with emerald green,
with grey breast and crimson pinions. The third, however, is without the
crimson pinions. Its wing feathers are black, the rest of its body is usually
grey with the exception of the breast where there is a curious patch of dull
green, showing the beginning of that green tint which has become so character-
istic of the turacos. It would be more correct perhaps to describe the wing
pinions as purple rather than black.
The green turaco is altogether a graceful and lovely creature but the
Gallirex though gaudily coloured is a coarse bird of ugly outline. It has
a tremendous gape and a great red throat When it opens its beak to gulp
down pieces of banana it looks singularly ugly. It seems to be a less highly
developed type of plantain eater. I have reared the young of both species from
the nest (they are generally two or three in number^). The young birds when
bom appear to be covered with a dark bluish grey down. Though rather
sprawling they can crawl about on their legs from the first and have more
activity in the nest than the young of pigeons. In this early stage the bare-
looking head is rather parrot-like. The way these young birds clamber about
in an almost quadrupedal fashion helping themselves sometimes with their
unfeathered wings reminded me of what I had read concerning the young
of Opisthocomus, though of course the habits were not so strongly marked, and
so far as I know the young of the turacos have not the fingers of the manus
so much developed as in Opisthocomus.
The ashy-coloured Schizorhis is not at all common in Nyasaland but is met
with more frequently in the low-lying parts to the west. It is a bird which
frequents the great plains of Tropical Africa rather than the forested uplands.
These Schizorkince attain their greatest development, however, in the forests of
West Africa, where they produce that magnificent bird the giant Plantain eater
{Schizorhis gigantea)?
Parrots are poorly represented, as indeed is the case throughout Africa.
The only two genera which are really indigenous to British Central Africa are
Agapomis and Pceocephalus, Agapornis (the love-bird) is represented by a new
' It is said by the natives that four are oflen hatched at a time.
* The small family of the turacos is purely African at the present day. It should be very interesting
to ornithologists as it is one of those indeterminate groups which serve as important links in the chain of
development. The Musophagid(E (Turacos and Plantain eaters) are related to the cuckoos, more distantly
to the parrots, to the colies, to Opisthocomus — that extraordinary South American bird which retains so
many primitive characters — and to the GalUnacea, The turacos in my opinion (which, if I remember
rightly, is based on that of the late Professor Garrod) appear to be the descendants of some central group
of birds from which the parrots and most of Picarians branched off in one direction, while there was a
connection with Opisthocomus and the Gallinaceous birds in another, this connection probably passing
through forms like the South American Curassows {Crcuida).
334 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
species discovered by us on the Upper Shire (A, liliance). This bird has not
been met with anywhere else in the territory. Pceocephali parrots are found all
over the country. The large Pceocephalus robustus, which is green with a little
yellow and blue, is nearly as large as a grey parrot and resembles very much in
appearance the green Amazon parrots. It is a sulky and untamable bird
although of handsome plumage, and has an extremely harsh cry. The smaller
grey-headed Pceocephalus likewise is not easily tamed though it lives longer in
confinement than P. robustus.
The Grey Parrot is said to be found on the Luapula near Lake Mweru.
Possibly it reaches the west coast of Tanganyika. In the former case, however,
if the fact be true that the bird is found wild it is probably accounted for by its
introduction from the west at the hands of native traders. The grey parrot is
much prized as a pet by the Arabs and Wa-Swahili, and there is a steady flow
of birds as articles of commerce from the Congo territories eastward across
Tanganyika and southwards across Lake Mweru. They are not infrequently
brought overland from Tanganyika to Nyasa to be sold to the Europeans.
The grey parrot from the southern part of the Congo Free State is the normal
variety. I have not seen any specimens like those on the Lower Congo and in
Angola, where the plumage tends to become pink. So far as my own observa-
tion goes there are the following species of grey parrot — Psittacus erithacus and
P, timneh, Psittacus timneh of Western Africa is a brownish-grey with a tail
which is black or brown. This bird again offers great resemblance to some of
the larger parrots of the genus Pceocephalus which tend to assume a brownish-
grey plumage in West Africa. Then there is the ordinary grey parrot which
makes its appearance on the West Coast in the form in which it is generally
known about the Gold Coast and extends across the Lower Niger into the
Congo Basin and Angola. The race of grey parrot, however, found on the
Gold Coast and in Dahome is rather a dark neutral grey, but has a distinctly
scarlet tail. In the Niger Delta the grey of the parrot becomes lighter. On
Princes Island in the Gulf of Guinea there is an extraordinary variety of grey
parrot, in which the plumage of the body has become a deep purple grey,
while the scarlet tail is a purplish crimson. Seen hurriedly at a distance these
birds appear almost black (I have been on Princes Island and so can speak
with some decision). On the Lower Congo and in Angola the grey of the
parrot's plumage has a beautiful silvery tint, and in this district there is a
tendency in certain individuals for pink feathers to crop out amongst the grey
plumage until in the variety known as the King parrot the entire plumage is
almost pink and white with a large scarlet tail. It is the more normal form of
ordinary grey parrot however, of the average ash-grey plumage and scarlet tail,
which spreads eastward from the Niger Delta and the Cameroons right across
the basin of the Upper Congo to the Albert and Victoria Nyanzas, to the West
Coast of Tanganyika, and to the southern limits of the Congo Free State.
It is not true as is stated by some authorities that the grey parrot in
the wild state reaches the east coast of Lake Nyasa, or any part of Nyasaland.
This mistake has probably arisen by Arab or Swahili traders bringing the bird
to Nyasaland from Tanganyika. The nearest allies of the grey parrot outside
Africa are the Vasa Paroquets of Madagascar. The parrots are a very isolated
order of birds but their nearest living relations are the Turacos.
So far only one swift has been recorded by us — Cypselus toulsoni — a bird
hitherto supposed to be limited to West Africa but apparently extending
across to Nyasaland.
ZOOLOGY
335
The only recorded representative of the Goatsuckers is the remarkable
Cosmetornis vexillarius which has the ninth pinion of the wing prolonged into a
narrow white plume of great length. The sixth, seventh and eighth pinion
feathers which are black are also lengthened beyond what is usual. The female
is without these appendages.
We are actually privileged to possess two out of three species of African
Trogon — Hapaloderma narina and H, vittatmn. Both these birds are very
rarely met with and up to the present have only been recorded from the Shire
Highlands. Their plumage is a combination of blue-green, golden-green, and
bronze, with crimson-scarlet stomach, a purple tail with white edges, and zebra
marks of black and white on the wing.
We now come to the consideration of a group that amongst all the
puzzling affinities of the heterogeneous cohorts of Picarian birds stands out as
a distinct assemblage closely inter-related — the Syndactyla, which includes the
bee-eaters, hoopoes, hombills, kingfishers, and rollers, besides other families
not represented in Africa.^ They are well represented in British Central
Africa. Notable amongst the bee-eaters is the lovely
Merops natalensis, which is abundant on the river
Shire and probably in other low -lying parts of
British Central Africa. At Chiromo this bird is
present in large numbers as it nests in holes in the
high clay bank on the spot which divides the River
Ruo from the Shire. When I arrived at Chiromo in
1 89 1 to commence the administration of this country
I found that these beautiful birds were being shot
down in numbers to be skinned and sent home for
the decoration of hats. I took them under Govern-
ment protection, however, and since that time their
numbers have greatly increased and they have become
wonderfully tame. It is objected, however, to this
favour shown to them that, burrowing into the bank
to make holes for the reception of their eggs, they
assist the water in flood time to eat away the clay
and so gradually diminish the site of Chiromo. I do
not think there is any fear that the bee-eaters may
cause more than the loss of a few feet of clay cliffs,
and the ground they are thus destroying is a piece of Government land, which
is retained as a kind of a park. When these bee-eaters settle on the branches
of a bare leafless bush, which they are very fond of doing, the first impression
on the passing traveller is that this shrub is covered with gorgeous blue and
crimson flowers, till, when he is advancing to gather them, the flowers change
into birds which fly away and leave the bareness of the bush singularly apparent.
They are almost the most gorgeously coloured of any living bird. The pre-
dominating colour is rose-red, deepening in places into scarlet ; the other tints
of their silky plumage are azure-blue, verditer-blue and black.
The Hoopoes are represented by one species and the Tree-hoopoes by two.
The most remarkable form of Hornbill is the very large ground hornbill, a
^ I give here a drawing of the foot of the great kingfisher ( CeryU maxima) to show its syndactylous
character^ It will be seen that the third and fourth toes are nearly joined together. This I think arose
from the Syndactylous picarians originating from a Zygodactylous ancestor (toes placed two and two) and
afterwards directing one of the back toes forward.
THE ** SYNDACrVLOUS FOOT"
(foot of thk great kingfisher)
336 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
bird which amongst the Picarians is as remarkable as the large Australian
Lyrebird is as a huge terrestrial development of Passerine type. It still retains
in some measure the syndactylous foot though it is obvious that the toes are
gradually becoming more separated. The species of ground hombill in British
Central Africa is Buconms caffer. It has black plumage with white pinions to
the wings. The enormous beak and the small casque above are both black ;
the bare parts of the face are red but round the eye and on the wattle-
protuberance of the throat the colour changes to blue in the male and to a
purplish red in the female. The ground hornbills are great scavengers,
devouring snakes, offal of all kinds and any reptile of convenient size they
can get hold of, rats, small birds, and mammals. In spite of their ferocious
aspect they make the most charming pets, using their huge bills very gently
and never to my knowledge as a weapon of offence against their human friends.
Anybody wishing to test this statement of mine should visit the ground
hombill presented by me to the Zoological Gardens which has been for some
time living in the Eastern Aviary. I have had others of these birds and have
become really attached to them. We always delighted in their quaint ways
and strong originality. They are, as a rule, well able to take care of themselves,
but one of these birds which almost ranked next to a human being in the
opinion of the natives, so much was it a member of our family, preferred to
sleep at night, no matter what was the weather, on the chimney of the
Secretary's house. Unfortunately the roof leading up to the chimney sloped
gradually and came near to the ground. One night a tiger cat must have
ascended the roof and seized the bird while asleep, to judge from the traces
which were left. They are very affectionate to persons whom they know, but
they will sometimes take a sudden fancy to a stranger and insist on feeding
him or her with a dreadful piece of offal, the more malodorous the choicer in
the hombiirs opinion. They will hardly refuse any form of food and swallow
most things on trust — a rash confidence which often leads to their death when
they are the pets of a European. The natives" have a superstitious reverence
for this bird which they never kill. It usually lives in small flocks or companies.
In some of the more forested parts of British Central Africa the Trumpeter^
hornbills are represented by two species, the well-known Bycanistes cristatus
(illustrated in my Kilimanjaro book) and B, buccinator^ a rather smaller bird
with a less prominent white casque. The noise made by these hornbills I have
compared in other books to the braying of an ass or the hoarse raving of a
grief-stricken woman. It is at times a terribly distressing sound re-echoing
through the forest. The more savage natives of British Central Africa are
very fond of using the head of the white casqued hornbill {B, cristatus) as a
terror-striking object fixed to their headdress.
Amongst the kingfishers there are four species of Halcyon all beautifully
coloured and rather large (these Halcyons are not necessarily found near water
and subsist on insects, not fish), two of Ceryle (one, C, rudis is a very common
African kingfisher and is black and white, the other, C. maxima is the lai^est
kingfisher known — it is black and white, blue-grey and chestnut), and beautiful
little birds of the genera Alcedo and Corytkomis.
The rollers are not represented by many species. There are two forms of
Eurystomus and two of Coracias, The Eurystomus is another gorgeous bird
for colouring — a combination of chestnut shot with mauve, rose colour, azure-
blue and purple.
^ Bycanistes.
ZOOLOGY 337
Amongst Owls may be noted the fine eagle owl {Bubo maculosus^) and
a remarkable fishing owl {Scotopelid), The ubiquitous barn owl, scarcely
differing in plumage from the English bird, is found in British Central Africa
as it is almost all over the world.
The Rails are another group of birds similar to the Turacos, representing
a generalised type from which many other orders of birds branch off. They
would appear on the one hand to have affinities with the Geese (Anseres)
through the Screamers; with the Grebes and Divers through the Finfoots; with
the Plovers (and the Plover group again gives rise to bustards, to gulls and
to pigeons ; from the bustards branch off the flamingoes and in another direc-
tion the Raptorial birds through forms like Seriama and Serpentarius) ; with the
cranes; witii the Gallinaceous birds through the Hemipodes; with the herons
(and thence the storks), the cormorants and pelicans, and so on.
The Rails and their distant connection the still more remarkable Finfoot,
are well represented in British Central Africa. In regard to the former we have
a lai^e blue Porphyrio with crimson-red beak and red feet ; a black coot ;
pretty little rails which are often blue or dark purple, other rails scarcely
distinguishable from the English water hen ; and the common corncrake. The
blue Porphyrios are very easily tamed but they are awkward pets to keep
in the aviary, as they are most carnivorous in their tastes and will kill and eat
the smaller birds. Some notice should be taken of the remarkable prehensile
character of their coral-red feet which are furnished with very long toes. They
are in the habit of standing on one leg while the other foot holds tightly the
object they are eating which, in addition to birds, small mammals or fish, may
be snails or large insects. It is interesting to see one of these birds tightly hold
a large snail shell and pick out by degrees the reluctant snail. They are very
clever also in moving about the branches of a tree, and their feet though so
clumsy in appearance are very well adapted for climbing, and this aberrant rail
does climb. It will go up a nearly vertical tree trunk " hand over hand " as
it were, creeping about more like a mammal than a bird. The remarkable
finfoot {Podicd) is met with in Nyasaland more frequently than in the other
parts of Africa over which its range extends. It is an almost untamable bird,
very difficult to keep in confinement, where it soon dies from refusing food. It
is awkward in its movements. The snake-like action of the head and the
shape of the beak recall the darters. The finfoot dives readily and keeps under
water as long as a duck. It swims with its body extremely low in the water
and the bobbing head and neck often appear to be a snake swimming across
the stream.
The most prominent representative of the Anseres is the spur-winged goose
— a fine large bird with a stately walk and a handsome plumage of dark
blackish-brown shot with iridescent tints of bronze-green, with white wing
coverts, a white patch on the throat and on the stomach, and a dark crimson
knobbed beak and bare skin round the eye. In the adult male the wing
is armed at the wrist with a powerful spur sometimes over an inch long. As
this spur is situated just on that joint of the wing whence so powerful a blow
is so often struck by swans and geese it must be a considerable weapon of
offence though it never seems to use it against man. This spur-winged goose
is readily domesticated but does not appear to breed easily in captivity.
* The Manchichi of the A-nyanja who regard it as a peculiarly weird bird on account of its cry
at night which is like the wailing of a person in agony. The manchichi is with the jackal and the leo])ard
the associate of the Mfiti or witch-ghouls who dig uj) and devour corpses.
22
338 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Unfortunately though such a fine looking bird it is very poor eating. The
flesh is dark, coarse and strong in flavour.
A more eatable bird is the very pretty Egyptian goose which is a connecting
link between the geese and ducks. The handsome Sarcidiomis (sometimes
called the knob-nosed goose) is a remarkable bird, by some thought to be
a duck by others an intermediate link between the geese and ducks. It has
a blunt spur on the wrist of the wing, a plumage in the male of white and
iridescent black with a brilliant speculum in the wing of blue green. It is
fairly abundant on large sheets of water in British Central Africa.
The tree ducks are represented by at least three species. I cannot find any
confirmation either by observation or native report of the idea that these birds
build their nests in holes of trees though I should not like to aver the contrary.
They are, however, ordinarily met with in large numbers in marshy districts
where trees are altogether absent and my own impression is they nest amongst
the reeds. They make a curious whistling noise as a call or as a signal of
danger. The genus Anas is actually represented by two specimens, the Anas
sparsa and A, xanthorhyncha. There is also a true teal. The other ducks belong
to several African genera. The red-beaked Pcecilonetta is one of the most
delicious ducks for eating I have ever met with. It might well rival the canvas-
back duck of America. Nyroca, a quaint and pretty little black duck with
yellow eyes and a slight crest, is allied to our English pochard.
The cranes are well represented though by two species at most. Through-
out all the low-lying parts of the country the beautiful crowned crane is present
and so far as recorded specimens go it is the only crane of which the existence
in Central Africa is absolutely established, but I have heard on certain plateaux
and mountains of the existence of a second kind of crane, and have actually
seen specimens of this at a distance of perhaps eighty yards on the swamp
at the top of Zomba mountain where the river Mlungusi takes its rise. So
far as I could judge this bird resembled the Stanley crane of South Africa
( Grus paradised).
The crowned crane is easily domesticated and a more admirable guest it
would be impossible to entertain in one's garden. Apart from its extraordinary
beauty and grace it spends its time searching for insects and grubs of all kinds
<
O
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Cd
Z
o
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ZOOLOGY 341
of which, with a little corn added, its diet usually consists. This crane may
actually be described as a gardener, as although it is a large bird it walks so
delicately amongst the flower beds as not to crush any blossom and keeps
its large grey eyes vigilantly on the watch for any grub or locust.
The crowned crane is found very abundantly in the Transvaal where also it
is semi-domesticated. I have not heard whether these birds will breed in con-
finement If they would then it is marvellous they have not already made their
way into Europe as a rival to the peacock, for the crowned crane has not only
all the peacock's beauty, but it has a much pleasanter voice, and is of positive
benefit to the garden, whereas we all know the one drawback to the peacock is
that it eats the flowers. Once a crowned crane has become attached to a place
it will never leave it and may be safely trusted with its liberty. It will take to
flight occasionally round the premises but never travels far away from its home.
These birds appear to consort in pairs of male and female and become very
much attached to one another, apparently pairing for life. Their dancing and
bowing of the head are very quaint. They are fond of promenading about at
times with the wings wide spread and taking long strides in the manner depicted
in my illustration. When searching the lawn for locusts they stamp every now
and then with their feet on the grass to cause those insects to leap or fly and so
discover themselves. They are not very fond of dogs, in whose presence they
will perform the most extraordinary antics, presun^bly in order to terrify the
beasts, but to most other creatures they exhibit a friendly and considerate
demeanour. They can be trusted in the farm yard or chicken run with the
certainty that they will not harm even the tiny chickens. It is evident that
their intelligence is very great and that they have a natural affinity for the
society of human beings, though even here they discriminate between negroes
and white people, and would often display much more politeness to Europeans
at Zomba than to the negroes. A pair of these birds was the solace of my
exile for some three years. One of them is still living at Zomba, the other was
unfortunately killed by a snake. On my journey over the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau in 1889-90, I was accompanied by a tame crane given to me by an
Arab. This bird during the march was carried in a box on a man's shoulders.
Whenever we stopped to rest or to camp the crane was let out and would follow
me about everywhere like a dog. When it was necessary to resume the march
the door of the cage had only to be opened and the bird to be called for it to
quietly step in. As the peacock from Tropical India can now stand an English
winter so in like manner this charming crane which endures unharmed the sharp
frosts of South Africa might very well be domesticated in England. The young
as in all cranes are able to run on leaving the egg and give very little trouble in
their rearing. If it were not sacrilege to mention the fact in connection with so
lovely a creature I might add that this crane is excellent eating.
This country offers so few arid tracts that it is not surprising that bustards,
which are birds of the desert or steppe, are poorly represented. The only
species obtained and sent home up to the present time is the handsome black-
bellied bustard {Otis melanogaster).
Flamingoes are seen occasionally on Lake Chilwa, on Lake Malombe and
the Upper Shire, on parts of Lake Nyasa and above all on the south end of
Lake Tanganyika. A specimen of a flamingo with immature plumage from
the north end of Lake Nyasa was sent home by me in 1895, but either did
not come to hand or was too bad a specimen for identification. The flamingo
is probably a South African species, Phosnicopterus minor ; though I think
342 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
on Lake Tanganyika the larger P, roseus (common flamingo) is present
Herons and storks are well represented. The father of them all — or at any
rate the bird which amongst existing forms comes nearest to the common
ancestor of storks and herons — the Scopus umbretta or Tufted Umbre, is
exceedingly common and is a great scavenger. This bird is a rich umber-
brown almost without variation except that the tail is dirty white barred with
dark brown and the pinions are nearly black. But on the mature bird, especially
on the male, a fine purplish gloss lights up the dull brown and gives it rather a
handsome colour. These Umbres are great scavengers ; they are utterly uneat-
able and consequently are not much molested, becoming therefore far from
shy. They are easily tamed and make rather amusing pets except for their
harsh cry. The extraordinary Goliath heron — perhaps the biggest of all the
true herons and a bird of very beautiful coloration (red-fawn, blue-grey, white,
black, with green skin round the eyes and a beak which is mottled black and
green) is present on every big river and lake. In the breeding season the
male develops two sets of whitish plumes hanging down perpendicularly from
the stomach and looking somewhat like the long muslin appendages of shirt
fronts or cravats of the last century. The common heron of Europe is also met
with. There are further the purple heron, the small cream-coloured squacco
heron, the large, middle sized, and small egrets, the tiny buff-backed egret,
several night herons and at least two bitterns. The egrets are common and
beautiful sights on the rivers. The large species is seen singly or in pairs, but
the little egrets and the still smaller bulbulcus are met with in large flocks.
The last named bird is so little molested by the natives that it allows of a
very near approach. These snow-white herons with their lace-like plumes over
the wing are objects which never fail to excite my admiration. Towards the
evening a low tree by the river bank will be a snow-white mass where these
birds are roosting in a flock, and a flight of them against a background of
dark forest and grey water makes a telling spectacle.
As regards storks : there is of course that huge scavenger the bold-headed
Adjutant or Marabu {Leptoptilus). We have also the exceedingly handsome
African Jabiru or Saddle-bill {Mycteria senegalensis) which I have illustrated in
Chapter I.^ and which is a rare bird only met with occasionally and generally in
pairs, whereas the Adjutant is usually seen in large flocks especially if there is
carrion about. It is probable that we also have the white-bellied stork (Ciconia
abdimia) though I have not procured specimens. The little black Anastomus
(A. lamelligerus) is very common along the rivers. It is an ugly bird with a
beak the mandibles of which are bowed like the jaws of a whalebone whale,
and except at the tip have a gap between the upper and lower mandibles, the
edges of which are serrated. The general colour of this bird is black. On
the stomach and thighs the ends of the feathers become homy and curled,
somewhat in appearance like the crest of a Curassow.
Of Ibises we have the handsome Sacred ibis and the gorgeous Hagedash ;
also the Glossy ibis. The Hagedash ibis when immature is a dull brown but the
adult bird is one mass of iridescent green, sea-blue and bronze-red. Unlike the
egret the ibis is remarkably good eating.
Probably two species of cormorant are found, one a rather large bird, dark
slate-colour with a white throat ; the other the small African cormorant which
is present in enormous numbers on the larger rivers and on the lakes — a bird
uninteresting in appearance and coloration and quite useless for food, besides
* Page 15.
ZOOLOGY
343
A PELICAN OF TANGANYIKA
being a consumer of enormous quantities of fish. The remarkable darter with
its long ^nake-like neck is not uncommon and is a characteristic object on quiet
reaches of the river, where, perched on the limb of a naked snag, it rests from
its labours. When in the water,
like the finfoot, little more
than the head and neck are
seen above the surface. The
smaller pelican is found and,
I think, the larger species also,
especially on Lake Tanganyika.
There are many representa-
tives of the Plovers. The
Thick -knee, that bustard-like
bird which also has a sugges-
tion of affinity to the flamingoes,
lurks on the river banks, confiding in its almost-invisibility against the bare soil.
The spur-winged plover, also uneatable and, in consequence, very bold, flits
in front of the boats or steamers and warns the crocodiles of their approach
with its shrill wailing cry. I remarked in my Congo book on the real friendship
which appears to exist between the crocodile and the spur-winged plover. I
have actually seen through a glass the plovers picking at the interstices of the
crocodiles' teeth whilst the latter lay half asleep, and these birds never fail to
warn the sleeping reptile of the approach of an enemy. There are four
species of Lapwing, and a pretty Stilt plover, which I have met with both
on the Palombe river and on
Lake Tanganyika. Curiously
enough the common Ruff is
present during certain months
of the year. There is a
Woodcock and there is a
handsome Painted snipe. The
pretty little Parra or lily-
trotter has already been
alluded to. Its feet appear
enormous; in reality the actual
size of the toes is not so
great as the extravagant pro-
longation of the claws in a
line with the toes which at
a distance makes the total
length of the foot appear
nearly as long as that of the
bird's body. By means of
these extraordinary feet the
bird can run rapidly oyer the
floating vegetation. Even
should it fall into the water
it uses the feet for paddling.
The male Parra is a pretty
- - ^ bird — golden -yellow, cream-
A STILT PLOVER white, chocolate and black.
344
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
On the lakes there are two species of Tern, one of them being a red-beaked
scissor bill in which the upper mandible is shorter than the lower. A small
Gull {Larus cirrhocephalus) is klso commonly met with on all the lakes.
A Sand grouse (Pterocles gutturalis) is found in the Lake Mweru district, but
has not been recorded from any other part of British Central Africa. There are
many Pigeons — none of much interest except the large woodpigeon of the high
mountains, which is apparently a Cape species (Columba arquatrix). This bird
is larger even than the big English stock dove. Its plumage is a greyish -purple
with white checks, and the bill is lemon-yellow. The fruit pigeons of the genus
Vinago are very common wherever there is any forest. In coloration they are
extremely pleasant — grass-green, mauve, yellow, with red skin round the eyes.
HEAD AND FOOT OF FRUIT-PIGEON ( Vinago)
I give here a drawing of the foot of the fruit pigeon showing that it is actually
assuming zygodactyle form, like that which obtains in so many climbing birds.
There is more and more tendency in these pigeons for the toes to be used
two and two in grasping the branches. No doubt the zygodactyle character has
been assumed independently in many groups of birds and is not necessarily a
sign of common origin. Before long we shall have a zygodactyle fruit pigeon
which in earlier years, when naturalists depended solely on external character-
istics for classification, would have greatly puzzled them as to its position.
The Raptorial birds in this land of an abundant fauna are naturally well
represented except in one group, the vultures. It is very strange that over the
greater part of British Central Africa these birds should be relatively uncommon.
According to Thomson they are exceedingly abundant on the high treeless
plateau of Uhehe, to the north-east of Lake Nyasa. They are certainly
abundant in numbers and varied in species in South Africa, and in East and
North Africa. In this particular British Central Africa rather resembles the
western forest ;*egion of the continent, in which vultures are uncommon and are
usually limited to a species of the genus Neophron, Until recently I should
ZOOLOGY
345
have said there was but one vulture in British Central Africa — a Neophron ; but
I recently obtained specimens on the Upper Shire and from the vicinity of
Lake Chilwa which belong to the genus Otogyps (the eared vulture) with a bare
red head and large beak. The Neophron may turn out to be a new species,
slightly different from the Neophron pileatus — differing in that the bare parts of
the head and neck are rosy-pink and blue, instead of being a dull purple, and
that the down which grows at the back of the bird's head and neck is a pale buff-
white instead of being brownish-grey. On the bare skin of the throat there are
curious ribbed excrescences white in colour. I have sent specimens of this bird
home but they have either not reached or for some reason have not been
described. A faithful representation of this vulture may be seen in the picture
of the dead Angoni warrior, page 33. These birds will devour carrion, but they
are also general scavengers and occasionally visit the vicinity of large towns or
camps where they consume the ordure and offal.
Central Africa has almost the grandest of raptorial birds — the warlike
Spizaetus Eagle. I give an illustration here of a fine specimen of the Spizaetus
which was for a long time in my
possession. It became fairly tame,
and would allow itself to be caressed,
but was deadly to any small animal
which -approached it I once saw it
kill a cat instantaneously. Seeing
me play with the eagle the cat
sidled up to me. In a second the
eagle had darted out a foot and
driven its claws through the cat's
skull, killing it in a moment. The
claws of this Spizaetus are probably
proportionately longer than in other
eagles.
The very handsome crested eagle
{LophoaetMs) is a much simaller bird,
but is rather richly coloured in dark
black -brown with white feathered
legs, a few white spots on the back
and a white patch on the under
wing coverts. Its crest is long and
the tips of the feathers droop for-
ward. The fishing eagles are well
represented by that very handsome
bird the screaming fish eagle {Haltae-
tus voctfer)y the mature plumage of
which is, rich chocolate -brown and
snowy-white ; and by the aberrant
Bateleur eagle {Helotarsus) ; and the
remarkable Gypohierax. The screaming fish eagle is one of the commonest
African birds, and its cheerful yells occur at intervals all through the day-
time on an African river, recalling one in imagination to the vicinity of
the eagles' aviary in the Zoological Gardens, where while waiting to mount
the elephant's back as children we have been deafened by the same not
unmusical clangour. The Bateleur eagle is rather spoilt as regards shape
THE WARLIKE CRESTED EAGLE (Sptzaetus beiltCOSUS)
346 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
by having a tail so short that it is scarcely visible, but the bird appears to
full advantage when soaring with outspread pinions, as with the exception
of the head its shape is then almost that of a crescent moon. It is perhaps
the most brightly coloured of all raptorial birds, being a combination of
reddish-brown, black and dove-grey with a sheen of bronze over part of the
plumage. The naked skin about the cheeks and the beak is crimson-scarlet
which is also the colour of the legs. The tip of the beak is black and the
glossy black feathers of the head can be raised into a casque-like crest. This
bird is not nearly as common in British Central Africa as it is to the east
or to the south. It prefers an open country of thin vegetation where it can
easily sight its prey. The Gypohierax which for many years was classed as a
vulture but which is now known to be an aberrant fishing eagle, is found on the
northern half of Lake Nyasa but not any distance to the east of that lake. It
has been stated, I believe, that it is met with on the Island of Pemba, near
Zanzibar, but I fancy this is a mistake. Gypohierax is found
^^, throughout the forest region of West Africa and its extension
^1^^'^ to Lake Nyasa I have already cited as one of the instances of
f^^3^k western forms penetrating into British Central Africa. The
V i-AV^ Osprey is common, so is the Egyptian Kite ; and most of the
genera of hawks, buzzards, and falcons are represented by
various species.
A remarkable bird from its affinities is the Naked-Cheeked
Serpent Hawk {Polyboroides typicus). This bird is very closely
allied to the parent form from. which the Old World vultures
originated, and is also connected with a still more primitive
Accipitrine, the Secretary bird of South and East Africa.
Strange to say the Secretary Vulture which is so common in
South Africa, and which I have myself seen in East Africa,^
has not yet been recorded from the south- central portion of the
^ continent.^ being another of those forms (apparently) whose
A SMALL FALCON distribution is interrupted by British Central Africa. Its place
iFako minor) is to some extent taken by its relative, Polyboroides^ which
greatly resembles it in its habits, especially as regards the
killing of snakes and other reptiles. The toes of Polyboroides are short, though
not so disproportionately short as in the more bustard-like Secretary Vulture.
The leg has extraordinary mobility ; it can to some extent be bent backwards
as well as forwards at the tarsus. The legs are long, though not as long as in
the secretary bird. Polyboroides has the feathers on the back of the head and
down the neck prolonged into a kind of crest.
The Gallinaceous birds are represented by two species of guinea fowl,
several species of francolin, and a couple of quails. One guinea fowl is far
from common and is probably confined to the southern and eastern parts of
this natural sub-region — the crested guinea fowl {Guttera edouardi). The other
guinea fowl found in enormous numbers throughout all British Central Africa
except on the higher mountains is one of the commoner species — the homed
guinea fowl.^ Although this bird is a rapid runner and frequents the ground
a good deal in search of its food, it is not perhaps sufficiently realised how fond
it is of trees. It is never found far away from a forest and often roosts high
^ It is also found in Senegambia and the Nigerian Sudan.
^ Though it is found as far north as the Zambezi Valley where the natives call it 5!'oma,
^ Almost exactly like the domestic bird.
ZOOLOGY 347
up on the branches during the hot hours of the day as well as at night
The young poults are caught by the natives and brought for sale to the
European in whose fowl yards they become quickly domesticated. Yet, strange
to say, the native in this case as in that of all other birds and beasts of Africa,
has no idea of keeping them about his own home. His only domestic animals
and birds are those which he has had introduced to him either from the north,
through Egypt, or by the Portuguese. The young guinea fowl not only take
very rapidly to domestication, but with a little personal attention will become
extremely attached to their owners — ridiculously attached I might say — in such
a manner as is never exhibited by the domestic fowl. One of Uiese birds
at Zomba used to be called the " Sergeant." It was the most extraordinarily
tame creature that I have ever known amongst Gallinaceous birds, who as
a rule though easily domesticated evince very little affection. But this guinea
fowl would not only go for long w^lks with us but would every now and then
run in front of us and perform strange love antics. It disliked the negroes and
often chased them away by pecking at their heels unless, that is, they were
obviously engaged in work with us. For instance if a squad of native police
were being put through their drill then the guinea fowl in a pompous manner
would march alongside the officer and not annoy the men, but if an idle native
came up to beg the bird was at him in a moment and would drive him away
for some distance. This was not an isolated case as several other guinea fowl
have made nearly equally affectionate pets. There are two species of francolins
and one of Ptemistes, This latter is a type of francoHn which has the skin of
the head and a portion of the neck and face bare and brightly coloured. The
francolins are remarkably good birds for the table, in size and flavour something
between a pheasant and a partridge. Unfortunately they are not readily domesti-
cated, being in this respect quite different from the guinea fowl. In captivity
they sulk and generally die after a few months from deprivation of their liberty.
That curious low type of Gallinaceous bird — the Hemipode — is represented
by two species — Tumix nana and T, lepurana.
Finally, I may again draw the reader's attention to the fact that the Ostrich
is not present iri British Central Africa.
APPENDIX III.
LIST OF BIRDS RECORDED FROM BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is mainly based on the papers published in the Proceedings of the Zoological
Society by Captain G. E. Shelley, to which I add a few notes of my own. I have also inserted the names
of species known to be present in this country, though not represented by skins sent home. These
additional names are placed between brackets. The order in which the species are arranged is slightly
different to the classincation adopted by Captain Shelley. The abbreviation sp, nov, indicates that the
species was first made known by our collections.
Order, Passeri formes.
SUNBIRDS.
Cinnyris falkensteini; Falkenstein's Sun- | Chalcomitra gutturalis,
bird. I Cyanomitra olivacea,
Cinnyris cupreus ; the Copper-tinted Sun- AnthothrepUs longuemarii,
bird I Anthothreptes hypodilus.
Zosterops anderssoni; white-eyed Honey-bird.
348
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Parus xanthostotnus,
Salpornis salvadorii.
Motacilla longicauda,
Motacilla vidua,
Anthus rufulus.
TITS.
I Parus pallidiventris,
CREEPERS.
WAGTAILS AND PIPITS.
Anthus iineiventrk,
Macronyx croceus.
LARKS.
Mirafra fischeri; Fischer's Lark.
BUNTINGS AND FINCHICS.
Emberiza flaviventris,
Emberiza orientalis,
Fringillaria tahapisu
Petronia petranella.
Passer diffusus,
Serinus icterus
Serifius imberbis \ African Canaries.
Serinus scotops
« 1
rbis r
t>s )
WEAVER BIRDS AND WAXBILLS.
Hypochera funerea,
Hypochera nigerrima.
Vidua principalis.
Vidua paradisea.
Coliipasser ardens.
Urobrachya axillaris,
Pyromelanaflammiceps,
Pyromelana nigrifrous,
Pyromelana xanthomelcena,
Pyromelana taha.
Pyrenestes minor (sp, nov,),
Cryptospiza australis (sp, nov,),
Cryptospiza reichenowi,
Coccopygia dufresnii,
Spermestes scutatus.
Estrilda minor,
Estrilda angolensis.
Oriolus larvatus,
Oriolus notatus.
Lagonosticta rhodoparia.
Lagonosticta niveiguttata,
Pytelia afra,
Pytelia melba,
Amblyospiza albifrons,
Ploceipasser pectoralis,
Anapiectes rubriceps.
Pycobrotus stictifrons,
Pitagra ocularia,
Xanthophilus xantkops,
Hyphantomis nigriceps,
Hyphantornis bertrandi (sp, nov,),
Hyphantornis cabonisi,
Hyphantornis xanthopterus,
Hyphantornis velatus,
Hyphantornis nyasce (sp, nov,).
ORIOLES.
Oriolus chlorocephalus
green-headed Oriole.
{sp, nov.); the
STARLINGS.
[Buphaga erythrorhyncha] ; the red-billed
Ox-pecker.
Pholidauges verreauxi.
Lamprotornis mroesi,
Lamprocolius sycobius ; the glossy Starling.
Amydrus morio.
ZOOLOGY
349
CROWS.
Corvultur albicollis; the
great billed Raven.
Prionops talacoma.
Sigmodus tricolor,
Campophaga nigra,
Campophaga hartlaubi.
white -necked
Corvus scapulatus ; the black and white
Crow.
\Corvus capensis,"]
CROW-SHRIKES.
I Buchanga assimilis,
I
CUCKOO-SHRIKES.
I Graucalus pectoralis.
SHRIKES.
Fiscus collaris.
Enneoctonus collurio.
Nilaus capensis,
Nilaus nigritemporalis,
Laniarius inosambicus
Dryoscopus cubia,
Crateropus kirki; Kirk's "Babbler."
Pycnonoius layardi; Layard's Bulbul.
Criniger fusciceps {sp, nov.),
Criniger placida,
Criniger ftavostriat us.
Telephonus senegaius.
Telephonus anchidcB,
Peiicinius bertrandi {sp, nov.).
Malaconotus poliocephalus,
Malaconotus sulphureipectus,
Nicator gularis.
BABBLERS.
BULBULS.
Criniger olivaceiceps {sp, nov,),
Andropadus zombensis {sp, nov,),
Andropadus oleaginus.
Phyllostrophus cerviniveniris {sp. nov.).
WARBLERS AND THRUSHES.
Eremomela scotops,
Camaroptera olivacea,
Sylviella whytei {sp, nov,).
Apalis flavigularis {sp, nov,),
Prinia mystacea.
Cisticola dnerascens,
Cisticoia subruficapilla,
Cisticola strangii,
Melocichla orientalis.
Schoenicola apicalis,
Brattypterus brachypterus.
Bradypterus nyassce (sp, nov.),
Acrocephalus turdoides,
Sylvia hortensis,
Erythropygia zambeziana.
Saxicola galtoni,
Thamnolcea sabnifipcnnis.
Cichladusa arcuata,
Cossypha ncUalensis.
Cossypha heuglini,
Cossypha caffra,
Cossypha quadrrinrgata,
Callene anomala {sp, noif,),
Pratincola torquata,
Tarsiger johnstoni {sp, noi',),
Daulias Philomela; the Eastern Nightingale.
Turdus milanjensis {sp, nov,); the Mlanje
Thrush.
2 Urdus libonianus,
Turdis gumeyi.
Monticola angolensis.
WHEATEARS.
I Saxicola pileata.
350
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Bradyomis pallidus,
Bradyomis murinus.
Bradyomis ater.
Muscicapa grisola,
Muscicapa ccsruiescens.
Alseonax adusta,
Smithorms capensis.
SWALLOWS.
Hirundo rustica ; the common Swallow. | Hirundo pueiia.
Hirundo asiigma (sp, nov,).
FLY CATCHERS.
Platysiira peltata.
Pachyprora molitor.
Pachyprora dimorpha {sp, nov.).
Terpsiphone perspicillata,
Trochocercus albonotatus,
Trochocercus cyanomelas.
Melanobucco zombcR {sp. nov.),
Smilorhis leucotis,
Smtiorhis whytei {sp. nov,).
Order, Piciformes.
BARBETS.
Barbatula extoni,
Barbatula bilintata.
WOODPECKERS.
Campothera abingdoni,
Campothera cailiiaudi.
Campothera smithii.
Indicator indicator.
Indicator variegatus.
Campothera malherbii.
Dendropicus zanzibari.
HONEY-GUIDES.
Prodotiscus zambezia {sp. nov.).
Pachycoccyx validus.
Cuculus clamosus.
Cuculus solitarius.
Chrysococcyx cupreus,
Colius erythromelon.
Schizorhis concolor,
Gallirex chiorochiamys.
Hapaioderma narina.
CUCKOOS.
Chrysococcyx klaasi.
Coccystes hypopinarius.
Coccystes caffer.
Centropus natalensis,
COLIES OR MOUSE-BIRDS.
I Colius striatus.
TURACOS OR PLANTAIN EATERS.
Turaats livingstonii.
TROGONS.
I Hapaioderma vittatum.
GOATSUCKERS.
Cosmetornis vexiiiarius ; the long-winged Goatsucker.
Cypselus toulsoni ; Toulson's Swift.
SWIFTS.
ZOOLOGY
351
Glaucidium capense.
Glaucidium feriatum,
Syrnium woodfordi,
JBubo maculosus.
Coracias garrulus.
Coracias caudatus.
Af crops apiaster,
Aferops super ciliosus,
Aferops natalensis.
Alcedo semitorquata.
Halcyon orientalis,
halcyon chcHcutensis,
Ifaicyon cyanoleucus.
Halcyon semicarukus.
Lophoceros melanokucus,
Bycanistes buccinator.
Rhinopofuastus cyanomelas,
Irrisor viridis.
OWLS.
Scotopelia pelt,
Asio capensts,
Strix flammea,
Strix capensts,
ROLLERS.
Eurystomus afer,
Eurystomus glancurus.
BEE-EATERS.
Dicrocercus hirundinaceus,
Melittophagus meridionalis.
Melittophagus albifrons.
KINGFISHERS.
Corythornis cyanosiigma,
Ispidina natalensis.
Ceryle rudis,
Ceryle maxima.
HORNBILLS.
Bycanistes cristatus.
Bucorvus coffer ; the ground Hornbill.
HOOPOES AND TREE-HOOPOES.
Upupa africana ; the African Hoopoe.
Pyocephalus robustus.
Paocephalus fuscicapillus.
Guttera edouardi ; the crested Guinea-
fowl.
Numida cornuta ; the common Guinea-
fowl.
Order, Psittaci formes.
PARROTS.
Agapornis liliance (sp. nov.).
Order, Galliformes.
GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.
FRANCOLINS, GUINEA-FOWLS.
Piernistes humboldti.
Francolinus shelleyi.
Francolinus Johns toni (sp. nov.)
\Excalfactoria adansoni\
Turnix nana.
QUAILS.
I \Coturnix capensis\
HEMIPODES.
I Turnix kpurana.
352
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
SAND GROUSE.
PterocUs gutteralis ; the Mweru Sand Grouse.
Crex crex,
Porzana baillonu
Rallus caruiescens,
Podica petersi; the Finfoot.
[^Grus paradisea /]
RAILS.
Limnocorax niger.
Gallinula Moropus,
Porphyria smaragdonotus.
FINFOOTS.
CRANES.
BaUarica chrysopelargus.
BUSTARDS.
Otis meianogaster ; the black-bellied Bustard.
[Phanicopterus roseus].
Order, Phcenicopteriformes.
FLAMINGOES.
I \Phainicopterus minor].
Order, Accipitriformes.
SERPENT HAWKS.
Polyboroides typicus ; the naked-cheeked Vulturine Hawk.
Neophron pileatus,
Melierax gabar,
Astur polizonoides.
Asturinula monogrammica.
VULTURES.
I \ptogyps auricularis f\
SPARROW-HAWKS.
Accipiter meianoleucus,
Accipiter minullus,
BUZZARDS.
I Buteo desertorum.
Lophoaetus occipitalis ; the black Crested
Eagle.
Spizaetus bellicosus ; the Warlike crested
Eagle.
EAGLES.
Helotarsus ecaudatus; the Tailless Eagle.
Haliaetus vocifer ; the Screaming fish
Eagle.
Gypohierax angoiensis; the Vulturine fish
Eagle.
KITES.
Elanus cceruleus ; the bluish Swallow- I Milvus egyptius,
tailed Kite. | Baza sp. inc, (probably verreauxi).
Falco minor,
Pandion haliaius ; the Osprey.
FALCONS.
! Erythropus dickinsoni,
OSPREYS.
k
ZOOLOGY 353
Order, Ardei formes.
IBISES.
Ibis athiopica ; the sacred Ibis.
PUgadis fakindlus ; the glossy Ibis.
\Hagedashia hagedasH\ ; the iridescent
Hagedash Ibis.
HERONS.
Herodias ralloides ; the Squacco Heron.
Herodias alba ; the Great Egret.
Herodias garzetta ; the Lesser Egret.
Herodias bubulcus ; the ox-frequenting
Egret.
Ardea dnerea ; the common Heron.
Ardea purpurea ; the purple Heron.
Ardea goliath ; the Goliath Heron.
Ardea melanocephala,
Ardea ardesiaca
Biitorides atricapilla,
Nycticorax nycticorax ; the night Heron.
Botaiirus pusillus ; the little Bittern.
Ardetta sturmi.
Scopus umbretta ; the tufted Umbre.
STORKS.
[OV<?«/<flra^^/w//]; the White-bellied Stork. Anastomus lameliigerus ; the shell-eating
\^Mycteria senega/ensis]; the Saddle-billed
Stork.
Leptoptilus argala ; the Marabu Stork.
Stork.
[ ] Tantalus ibis] ; the Tantalus Stork.
Order, Pelecaniformes.
PELICANS AND CORMORANTS.
Phalacrocorax africanus ; the small Cor- 1 Plotus levaillanti ; the Darter or Snake-
morant. i bird.
[? Phalacrocorax gutturalis]) the white- ' Pelecanus minor ; the small Pelican.
necked Cormorant. | [ i Pelecanus onocrotalus] ; the large Pelican
i (on Lake Tanganyika).
Order, Podicipedidiformes.
Podiceps capensis ; the South African Grebe.
Order, Anseriformes.
geese and ducks.
Plectropterus gambensis ; spur-winged Goose.
Sarcidiornis melanonota ; knob-nosed Goose.
Chenalopex cegyptiacus ; Egyptian Goose.
Dendrocycna viduata \
Dendrocycna fulva > Tree Ducks.
Dendrocycna arcuata )
Anas sparsa I rp T^ i
J, .II )■ True Ducks.
Anas xantnornynca j
Querquedula punctata ; the African Teal.
Pcecilonetta erythrorhyncha ; the red-billed Duck
Nyroca brunnca ; the brownish Pochard.
Thalassiornis leuconota ; the stiff-tailed Duck.
23
354 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Order, Charadrii formes.
Parra africana ; the " Lily-trotter '* or Ja^ana.
(Edicnemus capmsis ; the Thick-knee.
Cursorius {Rhinopiilus) chalcopieros ; a Courser.
Glareola pratincola ; the collared Pratincole.
PLOVERS.
Lobivandlus albiceps \ ^ . , ,^,
Lobivandlus senfgalus ] SP"r-W'nged Plovers.
Vanellus inomatus v
Vanellus speciosus ) lapwings.
Vanellus crassirostris ^
Vanellus leucopUrus )
Charadriuspecuarius \ ^^^^^ p,^^^^^
Oxyechus trtcollarts j
SNIPE AND STILT PLOVERS.
Tringa subarquata ; a Knot. i Gallinago nigripcnnis ; the South African
Tringa minuta. \ Woodcock.
Machetes pugnax ; the common Ruff. ! Rhynchi^a capensis ; the painted Snipe.
Toianus hypoleucus \ Himantopus himaniopus ; the Stilt Plover.
Totanus glareola > Greenshanks. |
Toianus nebularius) \
Order, Lari formes.
GULLS.
Larus cirrhocephalus ; the striped-headed Gull.
Hydrochelidon leucoptera; the white-winged Tern.
Rhynchgps flavirostris ; the orange-beaked Scissorbill.
Order, Columbi formes.
PIGEONS.
Vinago delalandii ; Delalande*s Fruit-pigeon.
Columba arquatrix; the Great purple Wood-pigeon.
Haplopelia johnstoni (sp, nov.) ; Johnston's Dove.
Turiur scniitorquatus \ ^ _
Turturcapicola | Turtle Doves.
Chalcopelia afra; the bronze-spotted ground Dove.
Tympanistria iympanistria ; the white-breasted Wood-dove.
ZOOLOGY 355
The Crocodile is the most striking reptile in British Central Africa on account
of its abundance and the enormous size to which some specimens attain. As
far as we know there is but one species represented in this part of the continent^
and that is the common African crocodile {Crocodilus niloticus). At the same
time I would point out a fact which I have noticed here as in West Africa, that
there are crocodiles apparently possessing the feature deemed peculiar to the
alligators — that of two of the lower tusks at the extremity of the muzzle fitting
into pits in the upper jaw on either side of the nostrils. I have frequently
made efforts to send home a skull showing this, but some fatality always seemed
to attend these specimens and either none came to hand or else the point I am
now describing was already known to naturalists and was dismissed as of no
particular interest.
The River Shire is a favourite haunt of these monsters which in that river are
of exceptionally large size and great boldness. The power of their jaw is
enormous. A crocodile which used to frequent the landing-place at Chikwawa
on the Lower Shire (where it carried off many victims amongst the natives), one
day rushed at an iron pail which was being let down into the river to draw up
water. It seized the pail, crumpled it up in its mouth and drove great holes
through the iron with its long teeth. The pail was withdrawn and for some
time exhibited as an example of what a crocodile could bite through. At Fort
Johnston, on the Upper Shire, near Lake Nyasa, the crocodiles would rush up
to the very bank and seize people heedlessly standing near the water's edge.
Several of our Indian soldiers were killed in this way until the river bank was
guarded by a palisade. The crocodile seldom eats its victim immediately it
has been killed by drowning. It prefers to stow it away in some crevice or
hiding-place under the water until it is partially decomposed. The normal diet
of these reptiles is fish without which, of course, they would scarcely exist, as it
is only a rare incident for them to capture a mammal of any size ; an incident
which, given a number of crocodiles in any stream or lake, can only occur to
each one at most once a year on an average. Curiously enough they do not
appear to eat water birds. Some sportsmen have told me that when they shot
ducks or geese and the birds fell into the water, the crocodiles have snapped
them up, but such an incident has never been witnessed by myself In lagoons
and on sluggish rivers where the water is covered with floating pelicans, spur-
winged geese, ducks of all kinds, cormorants and gulls, and in the shallower
parts with innumerable wading birds, crocodiles are also present, their heads
appearing just above the surface of the water, amongst the birds, or their bodies
laid out in the sun on sand banks or propped against stranded trees. On the
sand they may be seen lying fast asleep while water birds of all descriptions
are standing about them. I confess except in the case of the spur-winged
plover which warns the crocodile of danger, I cannot understand why this
pact should exist between the graceful and the grotesque, and why birds
should enjoy an immunity denied to mammals. Yet it is true that mammals
can co-exist with crocodiles in the water, for otters are very plentiful on the
Upper Shire and the crocodile and hippopotamus do not appear to fall foul
of one another. Yet men, baboons, lions, leopards, antelopes of all kinds
approaching the water's edge are liable to be seized and dragged under by
the crocodile.
Although so many natives lose their lives every year as victims of the
crocodile the negroes of Central Africa are singularly careless of danger in this
respect. As a rule the crocodile never attacks human beings when there are a
356 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
number of them together in the water. It is only when a man or woman is
alone that the crocodile makes his rush.
As regards the crocodile's movements it docs not appear to be realised by
most people how he gets over the ground. I find there is a general idea that in
some way the crocodile slithers along on its stomach till it reaches the water.
As a matter of fact the great reptile walks or runs over the ground on its feet
with the body carried horizontally and raised some inches above the surface of
the soil. In this way it trots along on its short legs in a manner which is
neither imposing nor picturesque, but which seems consistent with rapid move-
ment. I have never seen this represented in pictures which are either done
from dead crocodiles or represent the animal at rest on its stomach.
The Tortoise order is represented by the CinyxiSy or Hinged tortoise
{C, belliana\ by various species of Testudo, by the Stemothcerus^ and in the
lakes and rivers by soft leathery-skinned tortoises of the genus Cyclodert9ia.
The last-named are carnivorous. Their shells are leathery and are not out-
wardly divided into segments. The upper jaw is prolonged into a short
proboscis. These river tortoises which spend the greater part of their lives
in the water and mud are very fierce and with their horny jaws can give a
severe bite.
Varanus lizards are common and sometimes attain six feet in length,
measured from the tip of the very long tail. They are altogether carnivorous
and subsist chiefly on small mammals and birds, but their favourite article of
diet is eggs. As the skin of this lizard under the name of ** Iguana " is much
used nowadays for making bags and purses it might be worth while to export
Varanus skins from this part of Africa, as it would encourage the natives to
keep down these mischievous reptiles which cause much damage in poultry
yards by eating the eggs and killing the fowls.
Among other lizards may be mentioned the handsome Agama {A. colonorum
or a closely allied species) which appears to extend its range from West Africa
where it is extremely common. This Agama is almost the prettiest coloured
of all lizards, the male having an orange-scarlet head and throat, a steel-blue
body whicH in parts becomes cobalt, while the upper half of the tail is deep
blue and the remainder bright red (the female is olive, spotted with brown).
The most vivid development of these colours is certainly seen in West Africa ;
indeed the species I have observed in Nyasaland is apt to have the scarlet tints
replaced by orange while the blue is a little less vivid. Three other species of
Agama not so remarkable for beauty have been sent home by us. Unfor-
tunately the Agama with the gorgeous colours loses them rapidly after death.
We have discovered five species of chameleon, belonging to the genera
Chaviceleon and Rafnpholeoft. All these were new to science. One of these
chameleons attains a very considerable size in the male — about eighteen inches
from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. This animal can give a
severe bite owing to the strength of its jaws and the sharpness of the ridges
of serrated bone which constitute its teeth. It is very savage and will
occasionally dart at the hand, open-mouthed. The male has a great scaly
horn projecting from his head.
Although venomous snakes are so well represented — for we have at
least one cobra, a tree cobra {Dendraspis), a horned viper, the puff-adder,
and the Cape viper (Caustis) — it is wonderful how seldom one hears of
natives dying from the bite of a snake. The cobras are chiefly dangerous
to live-stock. They kill and carry off ducks and fowls, and sometimes out
("•
o
<
I. Or -r.^'i..
■■'Tyj
ZOOLOGY 359
of sheer ill temper have struck at and killed a tame crane or a young antelope.
The cobra or one of the cobras which inhabit this part of Africa has the
extraordinary faculty of ejecting its venom by a spasmodic movement of the
muscles pressing on the poison gland in such a way as to spurt the venom
through the air. for a considerable distance from the {perforated tooth. The
snake is said to aim at the eyes and if the poison enters the eye it apparently
sets up a severe inflammation, though it is only fatal if it manages to enter the
blood. On the Congo, as in South Africa, the same peculiarity is noticed in this
snake, which for this reason is called by the Boers " the spitting snake."
In all my seven years' experience of British Central Africa I cannot recall
a single instance occurring within my knowledge of a native, European or
Indian having been killed by a poisonous snake. Of course I would not allege
that such cases do not occur amongst the natives (who have a great dread
of snakes) ; I only say that although continually enquiring I have never had an
instance brought to my notice. On two occasions, at least, my servants were
struck by puff-adders, but the wound having been cauterized and the men dosed
with enormous quantities of whisky a complete recovery ensued. Of course it
is possible for the puff-adder to bite without causing death even if no remedies
are taken, as the poison gland is sometimes exhausted or even at some seasons
of the year less well supplied than at others. When we first set to work to
clear the site of a town at Chiromo in 1891-92 snakes were all over the place.
They chiefly inhabited the huge ant hills of the termites, but wherever they
came from they swarmed over the newly-cleared ground, especially in the cool
evening. On one occasion walking up the main street in the dusk I heard
a low hissing sound under my feet, stopped short, and a long cobra glided out
from between my feet, making no gesture of menace but quietly retiring to
a neighbouring dust heap. I am almost ashamed to say I killed it here,
crippling it with clods of earth, but considering its magnanimity when crawling
between my legs it deserved to live. Yet, during all this period I never once
heard of a native or European being bitten at Chiromo, and certainly no one
died from any such cause. The natives, however, speak with great dread of
certain snakes, above all of the Mamba, or tree cobra {Dendraspis) which in
the breeding season is very savage and will dart out from the grass or bush and
attack passers-by.
Pythons are sometimes met with of a very large size ; one that was
measured was 18 feet 2 inches long. Of course they are not poisonous and
are only dangerous if anybody deliberately placed himself in contact with the
snake and allowed it to coil round and crush him. As a matter of fact the
python is a rather defenceless creature, inasmuch as its bulk is large and it
is easily wounded, while not being as agile as smaller snakes in escaping or
having any powers of defence but actual contact. Yet pythons will, if suddenly
disturbed, be ready to stand at bay. Once near the north end of Lake Nyasa I
suddenly disturbed a python in a thicket through which I was groping along
a native path. The snake barred my way and was so menacing that I had
to return to the camp and get a gun to shoot it.
There is nothing specially remarkable about the Batrachians so far as they
are yet known. A list of those that have been identified will be found among
the appendices to this chapter.
That remarkable connecting link, the mud fish {Protopterus) should be
found in most parts of British Central Africa, but hitherto it has only been
reported from the Tanganyika district. The French missionaries on that lake
360
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
assert that the female carries the ova in a kind of sac attached to her abdomen,
until they are hatched.
Dr. Gunther is of opinion that barely a third of the fish in the rivers and
lakes of British Central Africa have as yet been made known in spite of our
recent collections. He is probably right, and remarkable discoveries may yet
await us, especially on Tanganyika, where numerous travellers have reported the
existence of an exceedingly large fish which occasionally rushes at boats in a
Chromis squatnifennis
Hem ich rotn is Ihnttgston ii
FISH OF LAKE N Y A S A
threatening manner. Similar rumours of a very large fish in Nyasa are
prevalent. Both Commander Cullen and Lieutenant-Commander Rhoades (of
the Lake Nyasa gunboats) have reported curious circumstances tending to show
that some very large fish or marine animal lives in Lake Nyasa, which amongst
other things can bite oflT and carry away as a bait the brass log which is towed
behind the vessels. It may not be more than a huge species of Bagrus, a
Siluroid fish. Specimens of this creature have been already obtained which
reached nearly six feet in length.
The fish of Lake Nyasa, of Lake Chilwa and of the Upper Shire offer many
examples which are excellent for eating,^ with firm white flesh and few bones.
^ A new genus of fish was obtained from Lake Nyasa — Engraiilicypris pingttis. Dr. Gunther says
of this fish : ** It might be preserved in a way similar to anchovies and would form a usefiil addition to
the food of the European community." By the courtesy of the Zoological Society I am enabled to give
an illustration of it here.
ZOOLOGY
361
This is also characteristic of the fish of Tanganyika and almost all the other big
lakes and rivers, though except where the river is sluggish and somewhat
lacustrine, the fish appear to be small and singularly full of bones. Most of the
ordinary streams contain fish of cyprinoid type, more or less like the barbel.
EngrauHcypHs pingitis
APPENDIX IV.
LIST OF THE REPTILES, BATRACHIANS, AND FISHES
RECORDED FROM BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is mainly based on the papers published by Dr. A. Gunther and Mr. G. A. Boulenger,
in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. I have also inserted the names of species known to be
present in the country, though not represented by specimens sent home. These additions are placed
between brackets.
Class, REPTILIA.
Order, Crocodilia.
\Crocodilus nilotiais] ; the common Crocodile.
Order, Chelonia.
[T^s/udo calcarata] \ Cinyxis belliana ; ^ the Hinged Tortoise.
\Testudo pardaHs\ 1^ T t * Sitrnothcsrus sinuatus,
\Testudo geometricd] | * Cycloderma frenatum ; the Soft Tortoise.
\Testudo anguiata] J Aquatic : ordinarily known as the
yHomopus femoralis\ \ Areolated Lake Nyasa Turtle. Carnivorous.
\lIomopus areolcUus i\ f Tortoises.
Order, Squamata.
LIZARDS.
Lygodactylus angularis {sf. natf.).
[Agama colonorumP[
Agama atricollis.
Hemidactylus mabouia ; a Gecko.
Mabouia varia \
Mabouia quinquetaniata ^i • 1
o^ • 4*1*1 ySkmks.
Sepstna tetradactyla
Lygosotna sundevalli J
Gerrhosaurus flavigularis.
Lygodactylus capensis.
Agama mossanibica,
Agama kirkii,
Varanus albigularis \ ^^ •*. t • j
?, \ Monitor Lizards.
Varanus occdlatus )
CHAMELEONS.
ChamaUon dilepis ; Flap-necked Chame- | Chamceieon melleru
leon.
ChamaUon isabellinus {sp, nov.).
Rhampholeon platyceps (sp, nov,).
RhamphoUon brachyurus (sp, hoik).
Sent alive to the Zoological Gardens. '
362
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Sub-Order, Ophidta.
NON-VENOMOUS SNAKES.
Typhlops obtusus ; the Burrowing Snake.
\Python seb(B\ ; the common African
Python.
Uriechis cafensis,
Coronella olivacea^ var. dumerilii.
Homalosoma lutrix.
Dasypeliis scabra.
Psammophylax variabilis {sp, twv.) ; the
Rat Snake.
Boodon iineatus.
Lcptodira rufescens.
Lycophidium horstockii,
Ahatulla irregularis,
Ahietulla tifglecta,
Dryiophis oaUsii,
Fsammophis sibilans ) Hissing Sand
Ditto, var. intermedia j Snakes.
VENOMOUS SNAKES.
Naja nigricollis ; the Black- necked Cobra.
\Naja flava T\ ; the South African Cobra :
? the Spitting Cobra.
\Dendraspis angusiiceps f\\ the Tree-
Cobra; the dreaded " Mamba."
Causus rostratus,
Causus rhombeatus ; the Cape Viper.
Bitis arietans ; the Puff Adder.
Bitis gabonica ; the " River Jack ^ Viper
of West Africa.
Rana johnstoni {sp. nov.).
Rana nyassce {sp. nov J),
Rana fasciata,
Breviceps mossambicus,
Scolecomorphus kirkii.
Class, AMPHIBIA.
Order, Ecaudata.
I Cassina senegalensis,
Bufo regularis,
Arthroleptis macrodactyla,
Rappia cinctiventris .
Rappia vasata.
Class, PISCES.
Sub-Class, Dipnoi.
{Protopterus amiecfens] ; the African Mud Fish. Reported from Lake Tangan)dka, but
not elsewhere in B.C. A.
Sub-Class, Teleostomi.
[Order, Actinoptervgii.]
Heffiichromis afer {sp, nov,).
Chromis squamipennis.
Chromis subocularis,
Chromis mossambicus,
Chromis johnstoni {sp, nov,),
Chromis lethriniis {sp, nov,),
Chromis rendalli {sp, nov,),
Chromis ielrastigma {sp. nov.).
Chromis callipterus {sp. nov,),
Chromis kirkii {sp. nov.).
Chromis williamsi {sp, nov.).
Hemichromis modes tus {sp. nov.).
Hemichromis livingstonii {sp. nov.).
Hemichromis robustus.
Hemichromis dimidiatus,
Hemichromis longiceps.
Oreochromis shiranus {sp, nov,).
Docimodus johnstoni {sp, nai'.).
Corematodus shiranus {sp, no7f.),
Bagrus meridionalis {sp, no7'.); the great
Cat Fish.
[Afalapterurus, sp, inc. ] ; the Electric Cat
Fish.
Zabeo coubie,
Barilius guentheri {sp. nov.),
Engraulicypris pinguis ; new genus.
Haplochilus johnstoni {sp. nozf.)
[PristiSy sp. i/ic.] ; the Saw-fish.
This creature comes up the River
Shire from the sea as far as Chiromo.
ZOOLOGY 363
On most of the well forested hills the Land Crabs of the genus Thelphusa are
common.
It is well known that the water mollusca of Tanganyika exhibit some
resemblance to marine forms ; it is also stated that shrimps and sponges are
found in this lake and MeduscB. Mr. J. Moore, who was dispatched to
Tanganyika by the Royal Society to thoroughly examine its marine fauna
will probably, ere this book is published, have described his discoveries and
enunciated his theories in this respect^
APPENDIX V.
LIST OF LAND AND FRESH WATER MOLLUSCS RECORDED
IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is founded on that published by Mr. Edgai A. Smith in the Zoological Society's
Proceedings for 1893, ^^ ^^^ paper on the collections sent home by Mr. Richard Crawshay and myself.
\Arion sp. inc?[ ; the large Black Slug. ] Viviparus crawshay i {sp, hoik),
Mnnea hatniltoni (sp. nov.). ^ Viviparus capillaceus,
Mnnea karongana (sp, nov.), Cleopatra johnstoni (sp. nov.),
Ulix whytei {sp. nov.). Cleopatra mweruefisis {sp. nav.).
Livinhacia nilotica, Melania tubercalata,
Buliminus stictus, Melania nodicincta,
Limicolaria martensiana- Melania turritospira,
Achatina; of various uncertain species. ' Melania woodwardi {sp, nov.).
(The Achatina are huge snails which Melania mweruensis {sp. nov.).
attain the largest size of any terrestrial Melania imitatrix {sp. nov.).
gasteropods.) Melania crawshay i {sp. nov.).
Ampullaria ovata. Physa nyasana.
Lanistes solidus. ' Physa karongensis {sp. nov.).
JLanistes affinis. \ Planorbis alexandrina.
Lanistes nyassanus. ' Unio nyassensis {sp. nov.).
Lanistes ovum. Unio johnstoni {sp. nov.).
Viviparus tanganyicensis. Pliodon spekei.
Viviparus mweruensis {sp. nov.). \ Mutela {Spatha) nyassensis.
NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF
LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS FROM ZOMBA
By EDGAR A. SMITH.
This collection was made by Mr. A. Whyte on the Zomba plateau at an elevation
of 500 feet and upon Chiradzulu Mountain and its slopes during July and August,
1895. It was presented to the British Museum by Sir Harry Johnston. The
species are not very numerous, about thirty altogether, but probably half of them
* There would seem to be, however, from the collections of shells we have sent home from Lakes
Mweru, Tanganyika, and Nyasa, a certain similarity in the types, so that Lake Tanganyika does not stand
quite alone in the possession of a peculiar fauna. In the Appendices I give a list of the land and water
Mollusca collected by us.
364
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
are new to science. Many of them are represented by large series of specimens.
The large number of new forms is not altogether surprising, as this particular
region has not previously been worked for land shells, and we know that in most
cases the African land shells ai'e not widely distributed, each having its special
locality. Of course there are exceptions, and a very interesting one is worth
referring to, namely Kaliella barrakporensis of Pfeiffer. This little snail was originally
described from specimens from Bengal and it is also recorded from other parts of
India. I have noted its occurrence in the heart of Madagascar. Messrs. Melvill
and Ponsonby described it as a new species from the Transvaal, under the name of
Helix (Trochonanind) pretoriensis, and in the British Museum collection there is
a single specimen collected in Ashanti by Mr. R. A. Freeman.
The following list is a summary of the contents of the collection :
Hdicarion
4 species.
Hapalus
.1 species.
Pella .
I »
Achatina
. 3 »
Macrochlamys
2 M
Subulina
. I „
Mariensia
2 ))
Opeas .
. 3 »
Kaliella
I „
Ennea .
. 4 »
Phasis .
I i»
Streptaxis
• I »
Natalina ? .
I >»
Physopsis
• I n.
Rhachis,
2 M
Pomatias
• I >5
Buliminus
3 »
Lanistes
. I ,,
It is hoped that during the year opportunity will occur of preparing a detailed account
of this very interesting collection. In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for
1893 I described a species of Ennea under the narhe of E. johnstoni^ after the
administrator of British Central Africa. As this name had already been employed
for a West African form, the opportunity is now taken of substituting that of
hamiltoni for the Nyasa shell, the name having reference to Sir H. H. Johnston's
second name.
In regard to Spiders, I append a list of the scorpions, spiders and ticks we
have collected.
There are large hairy Mygale spiders, and a handsome Nephila — usually
purple-blue and yellow — builds webs of great denseness and strength from
branch to branch of the trees and bushes across disused paths. There is a
spider resembling a species of Gastracantha which I have found in the mangrove
marshes in West Africa. This creature has two extraordinarily long spines
projecting from the sides of the abdomen.
Scorpions are fairly abundant and of several species, two entirely new ones
having been discovered on the island of Likoma. There is a terrible tick named
by the Portuguese " Carapato,"^ which inflicts a poisonous bite causing swelling,
great irritation, and occasionally a little fever. This tick is found in the Arab
houses occasionally, and people bitten by it imagine that they have been
attacked by a more than usually venomous bed-bug.
Centipedes and millipedes are most abundant Occasionally a very lai^
centipede of greenish-blue colour with yellow legs is met with. This creature
like others of its class is to some extent phosphorescent. It inhabits the moist
soil of the forests, is sometimes as much as six inches long, and its bite is very
poisonous. The large, harmless millipedes live on decaying vegetation. They
^ Probably of the genus Argas.
ZOOLOGY 365
a.re usually a glossy black with innumerable orange legs and roll into a ball if
touched. Many of these centipedes in a young, half-grown stage, seem to swarm
together. At the beginning of the rains one meets with them in writhing
masses on the roads.
Earthworms^ are present in the soil of the hill regions — sometimes of con-
siderable size. Nematoid worms, similar to that described by Mr. F. Jeffrey
Bell in my book on Kilimanjaro, occasionally occur in the intestines of certain
mammals and in all the larger forms of Mantis insects. The Mantis appears to
be peculiarly subject to their attack and yet to be able to continue alive until it
has lost the greater part of its " inside," the worm finally occupying the whole
area of the abdomen. The " Guinea" worm, or tape- worm, is said to afflict the
natives but certainly not to the same extent as in West Africa. No case of
guinea worm has come within my personal cognizance. Leeches are found in
many localities.
APPENDIX VI.
LIST OF ARACHNIDA, CHILOPODA, AND DIPLOPODA
[Note. — This list has been made out from our collections by Mr. R. I. Pocock, of the British
Museum.)
Scorpions.
Archisometrus burdoi.
'^Scorpio viatoris.
* Opisthacanthus ruguiosus {sp, nov.).
*Solpuga paludicola,
NepMla malabarensis,
„ hymencea,
Gastracantha formosa.
SOLIFUGiE.
Spiders.
Hi 6 d \ SP^^^^^ "^^ y^^ determined.
Ticks.
Argas sp, ? (closely allied to A, moubata),
Trombidiutn tinctorium; small specimens.
Centipedes and Millipedes.
Dacetum torigonopoda,
Trematoptychus afer,
Scolopcndra morsitans,
*Alipes appmdiculatus {sp, nov.),
Archispirostreptus \ ^^ ^ , ^ . ,
^ , /^ ^ \ Not yet determmed.
Odontopyge j ^
o^, ., . 1- New, but not yet described.
* Indicates species described and named by Mr. Pocock.
* Called by the natives ** Nyongolozi."
366 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
And now we come to the consideration of the last class of animated beings
of which it is necessary to treat in this brief description of the Natural Histor\-
of British Central Africa — the insects: that class which seems to have been
created for an almost wholly evil purpose. If the old idea still prevailed that
the Evil principle was personified by a fallen deity one might well imagine
that the class of insects was his contribution to the life of this planet. This
idea certainly prevailed amongst the Semitic people of antiquity who called
Beelzebub " the King of the Flies." From the point of view of man and most
other mammals insects are the one class among their fellow creatures which are
uniformly hostile and noxious. And this feeling that they were to be combated
as the enemies of creation seems to have perpetually actuated the development
of group after group of new creatures to prey on insects. Fish crawled out
of the water to pursue primeval insects and became amphibians. Amphibians
developed into reptiles and into mammals in the same pursuit, reptiles gave
birth to Pterodactyls and to birds so that this hated Arthropod might be
followed through the air ; and mammals for the same end took to flight in the
form of bats. Birds almost more than any other class have nobly devoted
themselves to keeping down insects, and for this reason among many others
deserve the gratitude and support of humanity to whom the insect tribe is
almost more repellent and more hurtful than it is to less sensitive beings.
Mr. H. G. Wells, in his interesting book of imaginative foresight, The Time
Machine, has hinted at the awful development of insects which might ensue
when these checks to their expansion were removed. When one reads of the
many windmills at which philanthropy wastes its time in tilting one longs for
some Peter the Hermit of Science to arise and preach a crusade against insects.
With the doubtful exception of the bee (and honey nowadays can be made
artificially—is made artificially whether we like it or no) and the Cochineal
Aphis (now supplanted by aniline dyes), I cannot call to mind one insect that
is of any benefit to man. Even when the perfect insect exhibits bright colours
or pleasing patterns, as in butterflies or beetles, it is on so small a scale that the
effect almost requires to be looked at through a magnifying glass, and even
then is paltry compared to the effulgence of birds or the beauty of certain
mollusca, and at any rate is more than balanced on the debtor side by the
mischief wrought in the larval stages: while in the bugs the contemplation
of a certain garish brightness of colour or quaintness of pattern is turned into
loathing by the foetid smell. There are, it is true, traitors in the camp — insects
that try to be on our side by devouring other insects, but if with the disappear-
ance of the rest of the class those too became extinct we could dismiss them
with perfunctory thanks, remembering how in the Secondary epoch dragon-flies
from over encouragement grew to the inconvenient length of two feet and
probably presumed on their size and strength to attack the small mammals
of the period.
To those of my readers who are not acquainted with Tropical countries and
their insect fauna this declamation may appear strained in its tenour, but a
prolonged residence in any part of Africa produces in one's mind a sweeping
hatred of the insect race, a hatred not unmixed with apprehension, a dread
lest by some unforeseen turn in the world's affairs the existing checks might
fail to keep these creatures under, and that some awful development of insects
might threaten man's very existence by direct or indirect attack — ^warfare with
his body or the attempted destruction of his food supplies. Is this hatred
ill-founded when we think of the ravages wrought by the Phylloxera on our
ZOOLOGY 367
vines ; by the tsetse-fly on the horses and cattle with which we are attempting
to open up Africa ; by the jigger, or burrowing flea, which may make whole
nations lame ; by the mosquitoes which introduce all manner of diseases into
the skin and render existence intolerable at all times in the low-lying parts of
Africa, and, during the summer, in the northern regions of the globe ; by the
blue-bottle fly which spreads blood-poisoning; the "fish" insects which destroy
our books and pictures ; the maddening sand-flies; the gad-flies ; the bed-bugs ;
the fleas ; the lice ; the termites which mine our houses ; the warrior ants
which drive us out of them ; the tiny ants which get into our sugar and jam ;
the ephemerides that rise from the river at night, extinguish an uncovered lamp,,
fall into our soup and permeate it with a filthy taste ; the kungu fly of Lake
Nyasa which rises in choking clouds and simulates a fog ; locusts that ravage
continents and produce widespread famine ; beetles that bore into timber, that
destroy hides, whose grubs eat away the roots of flowers and food plants ;
innumerable moths and butterflies whose caterpillars rival the locusts in their
destruction of crops ; bugs which suck the juices of valuable shrubs ; hornets
which inflict an almost deadly sting on no provocation ; the thousand unnamed
insect pests with which the gardener and agriculturist have to deal under the
name of " blight " ; and last in the enumeration but not least in its horror,,
the cockroach, that foulest of all insects, the very sight of which in its mad
malicious lustful flight on some hot breathless night in Africa or India round
one's room fills one with more abject terror and shuddering revulsion than
the entry of any wild beast of our own class or human enemy or visitor from
the other world? Even in well-ordered England what precautions one has
to take against the encroachments of insects ! But in Africa beside this conflict
the differences of opinion with slave traders and cannibals, the contention with
lions and leopards as to the possession of domestic animals are incidents of
a cheery rivalry with other forms of flesh and blood compared to this nightmare
struggle with a class that knows no pity, that shares with us no feelings, and
owns with us a community of origin so remote in its independent development
that it might be the creation of another planet. It is surprising to my thinking
that our asylums are not mainly filled with entomologists driven to dementia
by the study of this horrible class ; on the contrary, however, by some sur-
prising reversal of effect following cause, the study of insects appears to
produce mild spectacled men of regular habits, dull sobriety and calm optimism,
just as clergymen are usually the authorities on spiders, and men of thin-lipped
virtue affect the study of that most disproportionate development of generative
energy, the earthworm.
This exordium is intended to explain why in my brief allusions to the
insects of British Central Africa I should speak in terms of almost unmitigated
blame.
Butterflies are not perhaps so striking in beauty of colouring as in West
Africa, Madagascar, Tropical Asia, and South America. But as I have already
said the beauty even of the most gorgeous butterflies is, in my opinion, trivial
compared to that of an ordinary bird.
The most interesting feature in some of them is mimicry of their sur-
roundings. One butterfly frequently met with on the slopes of Zomba
mountain offers the most perfect resemblance to a large green leaf when its
wings are closed. The two pairs of folded wings meet together almost without
a break in the line of contour, and the end of the slightly prolonged '* tail "
to the lower wings is apposed to the branch, thus imitating the stalk of
368 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the leaf. The insect's legs are long and it has a way of tucking them up
close to the body and contour of the wings. The colour of the outer side
of the wings is dull green, and a dark green stripe runs right down the middle
to represent the midrib of the leaf I am fairly inured to surprises in Nature
but I have been repeatedly taken in by these leaf butterflies, and to my
amazement have seen what appeared to be the unmistakable leaves of a tree or
bush taking to flight and then settling again, so that in a minute the eye failed
to distinguish between the real and the false leaf. Some of the butterflies of the
genus Papilio are handsome but they are widespread throughout Africa from
the west and the north to Natal. There are also large smalt-blue "skippers"
which are very rich in colouring. It is remarkable that the clouded yellow and
other species of butterflies more associated in their distribution with Europe
should be met with on our high mountains. The names of these will be found
in the appendix.
The larvae of a small moth named Tinea vastella burrow into the horns
of dead animals, horns, for instance, that are being collected as sp>ecimens.
Soon a number of grey cocoons begin to protrude from the horn as though
it were budding in all directions. When these are knocked off a round hole
remains so that the horn is soon quite spoiled in appearance.
It might be mentioned that the caterpillars of certain large moths are very
striking objects. They are nearly if not quite six inches long and covered with
a flame-coloured plush of long pile. If touched, however, the extremely fine
silky hairs will sting the hand and cause a rash. The caterpillars of other
moUis are vicious creatures that eject a stinging liquid from their mouths.
A large carnivorous beetle with powerful nippers of the genus Tefflus is
remarkable for its beautiful iridescent-violet tint, but it can take a piece
out of the finger if incautiously handled. Such other beetles as do not attempt
to get into one's eyes or drill holes in one's specimens of horns, or bore through
one's rafters and drop the sawdust on the furniture below, or destroy the
European flowers in one's garden, or put out the lamp at night, or creep
into one's hair or rustle between one's papers, or eat and befoul one's supplies
of grain, or crawl into one's ear, ought I suppose to be mentioned for their
minute beauties or extravagant development of horns or wing-cases, but I have
not the heart to do so.
The common flea is fortunately not truly indigenous, that is to say, it is not
found in the bush or in many unsophisticated native villages ; it is chiefly con-
fined to the European settlements and to the dwellings of Arabs or semi-civilised
natives : though I cannot say if it is wholly absent from any native village.
The burrowing flea {Sarcopsyllus penetrans) is quite a new arrival in this
country. It is a native of South America and the West Indies where it is
usually known as the "chigo" or "jigger," and as such is supposed to be the
origin of the sailors' oath — "Well, I'm jiggered!" In the earlier "fifties" a
ship from Brazil landed sand ballast at Ambriz on the West Coast of Africa
and thus introduced the jigger into the soil. The animal slowly spread through
the sandier regions of Angola and along the West African Coast towards the
Congo and Sierra Leone. At first it made its way up the Congo slowly, but
Stanley's expedition and the spread of civilisation , over the Congo Free State
carried the jigger far and wide. When I first visited the Congo the burrowing flea
had scarcely got further up the river than Bolobo. Soon afterwards it reached
the Stanley Falls and thence made its way to Tanganyika in the Arab caravans.
From Tanganyika it gradually spread southwards to Lake Nyasa and was first
ZOOLOGY 369
heard of at Karonga about 1891. It reached South Nyasa the following year
and in 1894 became a great pest at Zomba and throughout the Shire Highlands,
finally reaching Chinde on the sea coast in 1895. Fortunately it is an insect
which apparently only thrives on sandy soils and therefore in moist parts of
British Central Africa it is already commencing to disappear. At first it caused
terrible sufferings amongst our naked-footed soldiers, policemen and postmen,
many of whom became lame by its bites. It caused the Administration to go
to great expense in providing boots for all these people. Gradually, however,
the natives are getting used to its attacks as they are in West Africa and in the
West Indies, and by care and constant attention to the feet are able to keep it at
bay. The jigger is a very minute flea only just visible. The female creeps
under the skin, preferring if possible those parts where there is a slight pressure,
such as between the toes or fingers. The foot, however, is that portion of the
human frame which it most usually attacks. Having burrowed under the
surface of the skin the insect proceeds to lay a large number of eggs which,
together with itself, are enveloped in a white sac. After laying the eggs the
mother dies, the young ones hatch out and proceed to devour all the surround-
ing tissue, burrowing in all directions until at last the neglected toe or other
portion of the foot becomes honeycombed. In extreme cases mortification may
set in and the whole foot be lost even if the mischief spread no farther. But
such a case as this could only occur when the insect first makes its appearance
in a new country and its advances are quite uninterrupted and neglected. If the
jigger be removed within a few days after entry the removal is very easy and
relatively painless, and the evil consequences are nil. Still Europeans who are
obliged to live in jigger-haunted localities should be careful to have their feet
examined once a day by a native servant. The natives are very sharp eyed
and on a white skin it is easy to see the jigger burrowing like a little blue point
under the surface. A little carbolic oil dropped into the hole from which the
burrowing flea has been extracted will allay the irritation which is caused by
some liquid the animal exudes, and will effectively kill any eggs that may have
escaped from the sac. Fortunately the skin surrounding the sac is tough and a
skilful operator easily removes it unbroken. The jigger attacks not only human
beings but monkeys, dogs, fowls and turkeys.
In like manner the bed-bug, which is a hideous pest in any village that has
been occupied by Arabs or coastmen, is usually absent from those native
dwellings inhabited by naked people whose habits are cleanly and whose scanty
clothing affords no harbourage for this pest. The indigenous bugs are many
but confine their attacks to plants, the juices of which they suck. Many of
these bugs are brightly, even handsomely coloured, but all of them possess the
same faculty of emitting (as a means of protection) the same horrible smell —
a smell none the less disgusting from its near approach to being aromatic.
The locust which so much afflicted British Central Africa during the years
1893, 1894 and 1895 was apparently the red locust of North Africa,^ and not
any indigenous or South African variety.'-^ This locust plague from all accounts
began in the Egyptian Sudan almost simultaneously with the rinderpest, and,
spreading southwards, gradually reached British Central Africa, passing on
from there to South Africa, where it caused very serious losses. It would seem
' Pachytylus migrator ioides ?
^ Though of course there are several species of Pachytylm in South Africa ; but in the case of the
locust plague of 1893-95, the locusts came down in swanns from the far north, from Galaland and the
Egyptian Sudan, whence they also spread westward to Sierra Leone. The locusts passed on steadily
in a southerly direction, and have recently ravaged Bechuanaland and Natal.
24
370 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
as though these locust plagues were not wholly unknown in the south-central
part of the continent, though fortunately they are only occasional occurrences,
and locusts of the rapidly-multiplying rapacious kind do not seem to have
a permanent home north of the Zambezi, as they do in North and South Africa,
no doubt because the climate as a rule is too moist for their constitutions. The
terrific downpour of rain during the wet season kills the mature insect and
washes its eggs away. Undoubtedly much of the damage which the locusts
did on their first arrival was due to laziness on the part of Europeans and
natives who either could not, or would not, bother themselves with adopting
extraordinary means for scaring the insects from the crops. Locusts strongly
dislike noise and tremors of the atmosphere. We found at Zomba that an
almost unfailing way to get rid of them when they descended in countless
thousands on our gardens was to turn out large numbers of men beating drums
and tin pans, clapping hands and shouting. The locusts then refrained from
settling and passed on to less energetic neighbours.
In extreme cases we fired off, with much effect, charges of dynamite. This
never failed to clear us of locusts. Birds, of course, were our chief allies
in combating this enemy. Not only ordinary insect-eating birds but kites,
hawks, and ravens j and this fact might be borne in mind by the European
planter who is a little too apt to shoot these predatory birds which are in fact
most useful in keeping down the locust tribe. The most effective locust killers
are the crowned cranes already described, and for this purpose alone they ought
to be domesticated and bred in large numbers both here and in South Africa.
Another great pest is the white ant, or termite, which is not an ant at all but
a Neuropterous insect distantly related to the cockroach group. The large, more
or less conically shaped ant-hills of these termites are familiar features all over
the country.^ The white ant here is probably represented by the species Termes
mossambicus and T. bellicosus and by the genus Hodotermes, No termites as a
rule are found above an altitude of 4000 feet ; consequently on the colder
plateaux of British Central Africa these and many other pests disappear. It is
also not ver}' fond of a sandy soil and is absent in rocky country, preferring the
red or whitish kaolin clay. In spite of its persistency it is possible to drive this
insect away as I have repeatedly proved.^ All ant-hills should be demolished
and the ground below them dug up to about six feet in order to discover and
destroy all the queens, as if one queen is left the community will simply rebuild,
whereas if all the queens are destroyed they appear to wander aimlessly to their
destruction. The white ants die if exposed to the light of the sun. They are
very sensitive to light and only work in the daytime in earth tunnels which they
build. It is these tunnels of red clay, which are sometimes made for many feet
along the trunk of a tree until a dead branch is attained, which the ants are bent
on devouring, that caused Professor Drummond in his work on Tropical Africa
^ Other Termites, however, build nests shaped exactly like a mushroom, and not more than two feet
high, mounted on a tube-like stem.
* Where the white ant is already well established in the foundation of a house, after every effort has
been made to get rid of its nests from under the foundation without success, it can sometimes be induced
to quit the building by the constant application of petroleum to the walls, as, like so many other insects, it
detests the smell or taste of mineral oil. The first appearance of white ants in the plaster will be long
clay tunnels appearing on the surface of the wall. These should be gently knocked off and there will then
remain a number of round holes out of which the white ants have come. These should be closed with a
mixture of lime and petroleum and if this is done repeatedly the white ants will leave the place, especially
if all the approaches to the wall from the floor of the room are further smeared with petroleum. White
ants are not fond of sharing a building with human beings, or of the society of man, as they dislike the
jarring sounds and the tremor caused by much traffic. There is no doubt they can be got rid of to a great
extent in human settlements.
ZOOLOGY
371
to compare the white ant to the earthworm in the creation of vegetable soil.
Undoubtedly timber which falls to the ground is more rapidly reduced to soil by
the thick covering of red clay with which it is coated by the termites. An
interesting and lucid description of the termite economy will be found in the
newly published volume on insects of the Cambridge Natural History, I need
only remind my readers that there is a parallel resemblance between the social
workings of the termites and that of bees and ants in that the community is
divided into classes of breeding males and females, workers and soldiers. The
two latter sections appear to be females with the sexual organs undeveloped.
The mature males and females assume wings and issue forth from the nest at
the beginning of the rainy season in immense numbers, mostly meeting with a
well-deserved fate from such mammals
and birds as devote themselves to the
destruction of these insects.^
They are usually largely eaten by
the natives who collect them as follows :
They build grass sheds over the ant-
hills just before the rainy season, and
as the winged ants issue in enormous
swarms from the small holes at the
base of the ant-hill they fly straight up
till they come against the grass roof,
and fall down into pots set into the
ground with opening mouths on a level
with the surface. As the pots are filled
they are covered with leaves. The ants
are afterwards roasted, wings and all,
dried in the sun and then pounded in a
mortar and eaten as a kind of relish.
If the winged ant is left to itself it soon
jerks off the wings, of which it appar-
ently only avails itself to fly for a short
distance from the mother nest. At this
season of the year the escaped termites
generally ascertain where a dinner party
is being given and fly to that house, entering it by any crevice, and making
straight for the lighted table, where they proceed to cast off* their wings into
the soup and on all the other viands, adding one more to these many grievances,
the total sum of which will no doubt lead me to devote the remainder of my
existence to the extirpation of the hated class of insects.
The Orthoptera are represented by the cockroaches, the earwigs, the mantises,
the stick-insects, the locusts and crickets.
I have already touched briefly on the subject of cockroaches. There are
several native species which frequent the village dirt-heaps, or are found in the
forest, and one or two of these exhibit a certain amount of comeliness. The
ubiquitous cockroach of Tropical civilisation is present in all large settlements,
but it is not a true native of the country and is never found in the wilderness.
^ So important a factor is the termite in the economy of tropical nature that it has probably caused
the evolution of certain special types of birds and mammals. Amongst the former may be mentioned the
Orycteropusy or Ant-bear of South Africa and the Manis or Pangolin of Africa and India. These two types
of mammals live almost exclusively on white ants.
A TERMITE ANT-HILL
372
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Scrupulous cleanliness and the absence of dark holes and comers in which these
creatures may breed generally lead to its being kept under in houses and on
steamers. A cockroachy steamer is without excuse and indicates a careless
and dirty captain.
The mantises, or praying insects, offer a number of species, some of them
very fantastic, others almost beautiful in their green colouring with large black
and pink ocelli on the hinder pair of wings showing very plainly when the
wings are folded. It is curious how the female mantis has taken to the conifers
recently introduced into the country, as a tree in which to weave her egg-case.
A STICK INSECT
This is a heart-shaped,, grey papery structure from which the young escape
when hatched.
An excellent idea of the weapons with which this horrible insect is endowed
may be obtained from an article on the mantises in the Cambridge Natural
History} As will be seen the front pair of legs is greatly developed and the
last two segments of the limb are furnished with teeth on the inner side. The
last joint, or tibia, closes on the penultimate segment or femur, much as the
blade of a penknife springs back on its hinge into the case, thus catching
between the sharp teeth of tibia and femur any object which the mantis may
wish to grasp. The insect always stands on the other four legs with these front
^ Insects, part i.
ZOOLOGY
373
legs folded up alongside its immensely elongated pro-thorax, the body gently
swaying to and fro. When an insect approaches and is within reach, the mantis
darts its fore limbs forwards and catches the creature between tibia and femur.
It then advances the prey to the mandibles of its mouth and tears it away
again, thus biting off portions. It is a nasty insect to lay hold of as it can give
one's .fingers a very sharp prick with the teeth of its huge fore limbs. No one
ordinarily would have a desire to meddle with the mantis, but the mantis
unfortunately will not leave you alone at night. Attracted by the light of your
lamp it flies in circles around it and you, generally ending by settling on your
hair or hand, looking at you with its huge green eyes and ready at any offensive
movement on your part to tweak your ear or your finger. Fortunately the
A LOCUSTID INSECT
(Probably Dolicho/hda)
/
ferocity of the mantis (though
it is said by some naturalists
to be able to kill small birds)
is mainly directed against its
own hateful class, and it kills
enormous numbers of insects,
many more than it can eat ;
being in this respect the
leopard of the insect race,
killing for love of slaughter.
The stick-insects {Phas-
midcB) are very abundant
in the long grass, and some
of them imitate the yellow
stems and grey leaflets of
the sun-dried herbage with
the most marvellous accuracy.
Others simulate small dead branches with off- shoots and thorns, the main
branch being mottled with spots like lichen. This tribe produces the largest
insects of the present day, some of the Phasmidce attaining to a length of
eighteen inches. It is not uncommon to meet with them in British Central
Africa a foot long. I give an illustration (page 372) of one obtained at Zomba.
This is probably a species of Palophus, and measured nine inches in length.
Locusts are represented by many species some of which are brightly
coloured red — black and yellow, or blue and yellow. Others are a beautiful
grass-green.^ The indigenous grasshopper does not do an extravagant amount
of harm. It is as I have already stated a red species of locust (probably
Pachytylus migratorioides) from the north which has recently committed such
ravages and has passed on in swarms to the south.
^ LocusticUe, Some of the Locusiida have enormously long antenjix. I give an illustration of one
drawn from life in Central Africa. Others of these Loctisttdtc imitate leaves in a wonderful manner ;
others again with long green bodies have large wings of vivid rose-pink, the wing cases, however, being
green so that the creature is only visible to the eye amongst the grass when it takes to flight.
374 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The crickets are represented by several most repulsive forms. What can be
more frightful than the mole cricket? Such an animal as this is a blot on
creation. Some of the Gryllidce are extremely predaceous and carnivorous. I
have noticed one, especially, which seems to frequent the native huts, lodging
generally in the thatched roof When I have been writing at my table by the
light of a lamp and some fat, fluffy, stupid moth singed and stupefied with the
oil is gyrating on the table, the predatory Gryllus will pounce on it from the
roof and literally tear it to pieces before one's eyes.
Large carpenter bees with black bodies and violet wings, and apparently the
ordinary honey bee {Apis) are common. I imagine the honey bee of Central
Africa to belong to the genus Apis because it is possessed of a sting which
is not the case, I believe, amongst some of the honey bees of other genera
found usually in tropical climates. These wild bees are present in almost
all the forested regions and make delicious honey and excellent wax. Wax
indeed is one of the articles of export from British Central Africa, though the
natives do not pay as much heed to collecting it as they might These honey
bees can be a great nuisance, sometimes, as they are very ill-tempered. In
my house at Zomba they were continually trying to build hives in the chimneys
and at times would swarm there in numbers, becoming so angry at being
smoked out that they would attack and sting all who came near them. On one
occasion when travelling along the Upper Shire a few of my porters and myself
stopped to rest under a shady tree. We were at once attacked by a swarm
of bees who stung us violently and whom we could only get rid of after running
for nearly a quarter of a mile through the dense grass. I received thirteen
stings on the head and neck. These being at once extracted and the places
rubbed with extract of witch-hazel, I felt no after ill effects.
The female of an ugly creature possibly belonging to the genus Scotia
makes its appearance during the rainy season in houses, attracted by the light
It has an extremely long flexible body, the end of which is armed with a
formidable sting. The mason wasp is a familiar sight It has dark indigo-blue
wings, yellow abdomen and black and orange legs. This wasp stings and
benumbs caterpillars and spiders, then packs them into a mud cell which it
has previously built on the wall of a house or in some such appropriate shelter.
Having deposited an egg in the cell together with the grub it seals it up with
more mud and continues to build other cells until quite a large excrescence
of red mud is gathered together. As the young grubs hatch so they gradually
consume the stupefied but not dead victim. They then push their way out
through the top of the cell and emerge as the perfect insect. It is said that the
male of this species is very much smaller than the female and there is some
doubt as to its identity.
The mason wasp is rather a nuisance, however much good it may do by
destroying caterpillars, as it invades all one's premises whenever a door or
window is open and is perpetually building a nest on the back of books or
on nicely-coloured walls, on picture frames, or even inside the piano if it can
get there. It is also a great fidget, buzzing round and round one's head in
circling flights ; in fact when a mason wasp has got into the room I have to call
servants to catch it or drive it out before I can resume my work. Nevertheless
they are good-tempered insects not readily induced to sting, whereas the pale
green-grey Belonogaster wasps, which build their papery nests of very long
tubes on the roof of one's dwelling, are easily roused to hostility and sting
fearfully. These are the insects which are mentioned by so many European
ZOOLOGY 375
travellers as "hornets." I question whether any hornet is found in Central
Africa, but the hornet is, after all, only one amongst many wasps.
Regarding ants: there are the tiny ones which in the more low-lying
districts infest the larder and crawl into the sugar ; there are the red tree ants
that bite venomously ; and there is a black species living in marshy localities
which has formidable mandibles and whose puncture of the skin is like a
nip of red-hot iron. This black ant is said to sally out at times to attack the
termites. It is often met marching in armies of thousands which make a
perceptible rustling as they cross a road by a track which they have actually
worn through the soil. The workers pass along in the middle whilst the large-
jawed soldiers are thickly clustered on either side. If the progress of this
army should be arrested the soldiers scour the soil seeking for the enemy, and
if the human observer remained long in the vicinity these dauntless insects
would have climbed up his legs and have fixed their jaws into his flesh with
such tenacity that the head is often left in the wound when the body is pulled
off. At times these warrior ants will enter a dwelling and force the human
inhabitants to evacuate. In their passage through the house they destroy all
cockroaches and other insects and even rats, so that sometimes their visit is
not an unmixed curse. I believe this is the same species of ant (or a nearly
allied one) as that in West Africa whose savage propensities are utilised by
negroes for a hideous torture. When it is wished that a person — generally a
woman — should die by inches, he or she is tied down on the ground by the
home of these warrior ants. The ants are then thoroughly disturbed and
enraged and left to wreak their vengeance on the unhappy human being at
their mercy, whom in time they will not only kill, but whose flesh they will
devour, leaving the bones picked clean.^
Another ant remarkable for disagreeable qualities is the Ponera, a rather
large-sized insect for this family, perhaps three-quarters of an inch long with
the abdomen striped in black and white. The Ponera exudes the most
offensive odour, something like the smell of the little European ant known
as the Pismire, only ten times stronger. This stench becomes infinitely worse
if an insect is killed when it will sometimes pervade the whole house. Persons
who have not actually witnessed this are not able to conceive that such a
terrible foetor can proceed from the body of so small an insect. I remember
Mr. Sharpe complaining to me once that there was a bad smell like drains
in the newly built Vice-consulate at Blantyre, though we both agreed that
such was impossible because there were no drains. As soon as I sniffed the
scent, however, I felt sure it was the Ponera ant and on taking up the matting
of the ground floor one of these insects was discovered crushed underneath,
and once it was removed the smell completely disappeared.
The Order Diptera shall conclude my survey of the insects. Amongst other
pests it produces at least three species of gnats (mosquitoes) ; midges — otherwise
called " sand-flies " ; enormous horse-flies nearly an inch in length ; bluebottles ;
house-flies ; gad-flies ; and the celebrated tsetse. There is also a fly not as yet
identified which with its ovipositor probes the skin of human beings even through
clothing, especially on the legs or back, and inserts an ^%%, This t%^ develops
into a small grub which is the cause of a very painful boil from which it event-
ually emerges.
Of the mosquitoes there are, as I have said, apparently three kinds — one
^ There was a case on the Niger in the early ** eighties" tried by Consul Hewett, wherein a negro
missionary and his wife were convicted of thus doing to death a native girl who had offended them.
376
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
large and brown in colour found in the thick grass near to rivers or lakes in a
low-lying country. This creature is called by the Portuguese " Mosquito manso,"
or " the tame mosquito," it being too sluggish to elude capture, especially when
gorged with blood. This, in my opinion, almost adds to the original injury of
its puncture because the disagreeable insect allows itself to be smashed, leaving
a smear of blood. Then there is the ordinary grey mosquito (whose bite is the
most venomous), a tiny little black mosquito, and a species of gnat found close
to rivers, which is barred grey and white, and has plume-like antennse. For-
tunately in the Shire Highlands and on all lands well above 3000 feet — and
most of the superfices of British Central Africa lies above this altitude — the
mosquito is almost entirely absent. This is of itself an enormous gain to com-:
fort in living. On the River Shire, on some (but not all) parts of the coast
lands of Lake Nyasa and around the south end of Tanganyika, mosquitoes are
bad, though here again their presence depends a good deal on the condition of
the adjacent country. If this is one mass of unkempt vegetation, especially
lush grass, then mosquitoes will swarm ; but as soon as the land is cleared and
cultivated and the rank bush is kept under the mosquitoes lessen in numbers
and even in some cases disappear. When we first occupied the ground on
which Fort Johnston stands at the south end of Lake Nyasa, mosquitoes made
life almost impossible, especially in the evening. At this time if anyone walked
out in a few minutes his neck was covered with blood and black with
mosquitoes. Dinner was only possible in the midst of thick smoke frorh
burning weeds. Yet nowadays mosquitoes in this same place are a negligeable
quantity. At some seasons of the year they disappear altogether and at other
times are met with in such small numbers that their presence is not much
remarked. Undoubtedly the mosquito is a source of ill-health in : Africa.
Apart from the maddening irritation caused by its bites it would appear to
introduce some unwholesome substance, and when the person bitten is in a poor
state of health the mosquito-bites turn to ulcers which are difficult to heal until
the sufferer is removed to a healthy locality. As a rule one receives fewer
mosquito-bites in a native hut than in a tent because they strongly dislike the
smoke of the wood fires, which are burned in every native dwelling.
Midges are very troublesome in certain places, especially localities near the
river. They are even found high up on the hillsides. During the rainy season
at Zomba it is difficult to sit out of doors and paint or read without having
an attendant present with a fan to keep the midges away or without burning
incense (as I used to do), the fumes of which drive them away.^
Although the sand-fly is so minute as to be not much larger than a flea its
bite raises a large white weal and is more painful than that of the mosquito.
The horse or "hippo" fly is a handsome insect of bronze-green and chestnut-
brown and is of large size. It is not much of a pest in the highlands but
swarms along the banks of all large rivers. It is easily killed by a smart blow
when it settles and is about to probe with its sharp proboscis. If it succeeds
in piercing the skin it raises a large fed lump which is irritable and sore for
some days.
The gad-flies are more annoying to beasts than to men ; a horse will come
in dripping with blood from their attacks after a ride through the grass during
the rainy season.
* Incense as a pleasant protection from noxious insects is well worth carrying to Central Africa. It
is much used by the Arabs and consequently can be bought readily at Zanzibar. Its fiimes, throwa
on hot embers, are not only very agreeable to one's sense of smell but drive away mosquitoes, midges and
most other insects.
ZOOLOGY 377
House-flies, except in some of the Arab towns and large European settle-
ments or in places where much cattle are kept, are not nearly so severe a pest
as in South Africa or the Mediterranean countries. Indeed, in cool places like
Zomba the domestic fly does not give as much trouble as in many country
houses in England.
And now we come to the tsetse, perhaps the most serious of all the many
insect pests of Africa in its check to European enterprise. It is difficult to
overestimate the importance of the part played by this noxious little insect
in preventing the opening up of Central Africa.
This was first experienced by the earlier Portuguese Expeditions of five
hundred or six hundred mounted men which would set out from Sena on the
Lower Zambezi in the i6th and 17th. centuries to secure the gold mines to
the north and south. We read in Portuguese records how their horses soon
succumbed to the attacks of a fly. The riders were left without steeds and the
expeditions came to an abortive termination, many of the Europeans dying
of fever or succumbing to the attacks of the natives through having to make
their way on foot. But for the tsetse-fly the whole history of South-Central
Africa would be different. It would have been rapidly traversed by mounted
men, not nearly so much ill-health would have pursued explorers and pioneers
forced to travel on foot, and the whole question of transport would be rendered
infinitely more easy as coaches and waggons could run and huge numbers
of pack animals — ^horses, mules and oxen — might convey goods which at
present are carried on men*s heads. Undoubtedly the tsetse-fly has checked
the southward range of Muhammadan raiders from the north. But for the
presence of this insect in the Congo Basin and in Equatorial East Africa, the
Muhammadanised negroes and Arabs of the Sudan would have spread much
farther south than they have done already on their sturdy little ponies.
The tsetse is a most insignificant fly in appearance. I give here drawings
of it that I have done from specimens sent to the British Museum. I have
purposely drawn these myself because the conscientious entomologist will
persist in presenting to the public in illustrated natural history works and
books of travel a tsetse-fly which the average traveller finds it quite impossible
to recognise in Africa, about three times the size of the largest bluebottle
and with wings spread at right angles to the body.^
When I first went to Tropical Africa I looked in vain for a gigantic blue-
bottle with vivid black and white striping, and a proboscis half an inch long :
it was a long time before it occurred to me that a small brownish fly with a
faintly barred brown and white abdomen (which again was generally concealed
by the closely-folded wings) could be the tsetse, though I knew it was a fly
capable of inflicting a disagreeable prick on my skin and not infrequently
drawing from me a drop of blood. This, however, is the appearance of the
true tsetse {Glossina morsitans), and the drawing which I give here very fairly
represents its ordinary appearance with the wings closely folded over the back.
The actual fly is a little smaller than the size represented in the drawing.
Fortunately the tsetse-fly is not present in all parts of British Central
Africa. Roughly speaking, it may be said that it is absent from any district
that is above 3000 feet in altitude and is not found in many of the low-
lying lands for some hitherto unexplained reason, no doubt connected with
human settlement. It is present throughout the whole valley of the great
^ This 6gure is familiar to most persons in Livingstone's first book of travels. It has been repeated
and repeated in succeeding books.
378
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
I
Hi
n if^
I
*l*^wrf ^*
Luangwa River from the Zambezi to the verge of the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau. It is found on part of the upper course of the River Luapula and
on the shores of Lake Mweru, but is absent from the greater part of the country
round Bangweolo. It is most abundant on the south coast of Tanganyika,
disappearing, however, as soon as the slopes of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau
are reached. On Lake Nyasa
-' it is absent from almost the
entirety of the east coast.
On the west coast it is met
with between Deep Bay on
the north and the River Bua
on the south, some patches
in between, however, being
free from it. From about
Kotakota and the Marimba
district it is absent It re-
appears again south of the
Marimba in the northern
part of the coast lands of
the Central Angoniland dis-
trict. From the south coast
of Lake Nyasa it is almost
entirely absent, but it is
found again on a small
portion of the Upper Shire.
In the low-lying country
round Lake Chilwa up to
tht! ylopLvs of Mlanje and the hills near Zomba it
is present. On the Central Shire at Chikwawa
and Katua^^a there is no tsetse, but in the Elephant
Marsh below it ^ibounds, as also in much of the
Ruo district and in the district of the Lower
Shire. AUva)'s, however, when the land rises to
3000 feet and beyond the tsetse disappears. This
insect has a great dislike to water and a still
stronger dislike to a congeries of humai\ habita-
tions. In consequence it is possible to convey horses and cattle up the rivers
without the least danger of their being bitten, as long as they remain on
the boat anchored in mid-stream. They are also quite safe in the middle
of any collection of huts or in any town. It is a fortunate thing that there
is no tsetse at Katunga or Chikwawa on the Central Shire, as live-stock
can be brought the whole way by water to this place from the mouth of the
Zambezi,^ landed there and sent up to Blantyre, and can thence be conveyed by
various routes which are free from tsetse-fly to the Upper Shire and so on to
Lake Nyasa. Another important fact to be borne in mind is that the tsetse-fly
does not bite at night, therefore if a tsetse-haunted district must be crossed it
should be done at night time — by moonlight if possible. It is said also that
smearing the bodies of the animals with cow-dung will repel the insect. One
bite of a tsetse-fly is not necessarily of much account, or even two ; it is where
the animal is bitten three or more times that the issue is certainly fatal, though
^ The tsetse is apparently absent from Chinde and Quelimane and much of the Zambezi Delta.
>^.
THE TSETSE FLY
ZOOLOGY 379
death is sometimes long deferred and may not occur till several weeks after the
infection. The victim gradually falls off in condition, suffers from extreme
depression and loss of appetite, and ultimately dies from apparent blood-
poisoning.
Donkeys are far less subject to the poisonous character of its bite than
horses or mules ; indeed it is said that the domestic donkey of East Africa
which is only one degree removed from the Abyssinian wild ass, is impervious
to its attacks, and certainly none of those animals have died from tsetse bite in
British Central Africa. Major Lugard, I believe, has found on his expedition
to Lake Ngami, that his donkeys were the only animals which survived the
attacks of the tsetse. Dogs are killed by it and even cats will not resist its
attacks when too frequent. On the Mwanza river, an affluent of the Shire nearly
opposite to Katunga, the tsetse are so numerous that the only domestic animals
which can be kept by the natives are fowls. Its bite on man produces absolutely
no effect beyond the pain of the sharp puncture. It is hardly necessary to
point out that the wild game of Africa — the buffalo, the antelope and the zebra
— are quite unaffected by the tsetse bite,^ though their nearest congeners among
domestic animals — the ox, goat and horse — are killed by this fly. So far as we
can judge from specimens classified in the British Museum the range of the true
tsetse (Glossina morsitans) extends from South Africa up to the Congo Basin,
Lakes Mweru, Tanganyika and the borders of Somaliland. A closely allied
species comes from the Congo Basin, the Niger Delta, and other parts of West
Africa, a fly which, so far as we know, is equally poisonous. I am not sure that
the actual tsetse is not found in the Niger Delta and in parts of the Congo
Basin. Other species of Glossina inhabit other parts of Africa but do not
appear to be poisonous. In the greater part of the Nigerian, the Central and
the Egyptian Sudan the tsetse is absent, thus permitting a far more rapid and
healthy development and conquest of these countries, as horses are abundant
and can be employed to mount cavalry and transport travellers while for trade
purposes mules and oxen can be employed ; and an unlimited number of cattle
might be reared.
The nature of the tsetse poison is not yet determined. It is not known that
it injects any venom, it simply appears to insert the prong of the proboscis and
suck the blood. Some have advanced the theory that there is no inherent
poison in the tsetse itself, but that it inserts the germs of malaria. The
argument sustained is that the wild animals of Africa have in the course of
ages of adaptation become inured to malarial poisoning, but that they harbour
in their blood the micro-organisms of malaria. These, passed on by the tsetse-
fly, passing with infected proboscis from wild to tame animal, increase and
multiply in the latter, which is not inoculated, and the beast dies not from a
specific "tsetse" poison, but from malaria introduced into the blood by the
tsetse. I confess, however, this theory, though ingenious, does not strike me as
adequately accounting for all the facts. I cannot help thinking myself that
the tsetse must secrete and introduce into the animal's system a peculiar
venom which in the human being causes the bite to itch ; but if so the poison
would be of a similar nature to that of the flea, the gnat and the midge, all of
which produce different effects on different people. In niy own case the bites
of fleas and still more of bed-bugs (especially in tropical countries) produce
positively feverish symptoms whereas many other of my fellow-countrymen
make little or nothing of these attacks.
^ For simplicity of diction I speak of the tsetse "bite." It is of course 2Lpufuture of the proboscis.
38o
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Certainly the tsetse tends to disappear before the presence of man and the
one certain cure for it would seem to be the placing of all the low-lying parts of
British Central Africa under cultivation and the settlement of innumerable
negroes. Fortunately the fly does not much trouble our politicjil economy for
the further reasons that so much of the country lies above its habitat. In those
districts where it is healthy for Europeans to settle the altitude is already too
great to permit of the existence of the tsetse-fly.
APPENDIX VII.
LIST OF ORTHOPTERA, HYMENOPTERA, AND HEMIPTERA
COLLECTED BY SIR HARRY JOHNSTON AND OTHER OFFICIALS OF
THE B.C.A. ADMINISTRATION IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
By W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S., F.C.S.
ORTHOPTERA.
BLATTIDiE.
Leucophlcea madercB.
Gynopeltis crypiospila,
„ discoidalis,
GRYLLIDiE.
Curtilla africana,
Brachytrypcs membranacea.
Acheta bimaculaia,
PHASGONURIDiE.
Libanasa fusca,
Clonia wahlbergi,
Engaliopsis peter sii,
Pseudorhynchus pungens,
Mecopoda latipennis.
Tegra spilophora,
Arantia spinulosa,
LoCUSTIDiE.
Acrida pharaonis,
„ pellucida.
Mesops abbreviatus.
„ gracilis.
Parga spatulaia,
Xiphocera ioboscelis.
„ haploscclis.
„ atroos^
Phymateus hildebrandti.
Petasia anchieiiE,
Zonocerus sanguinolentus,
„ elegans,
Taphronota porosa.
Cyrtacanthacris rubella,
„ ruficomis,
Schistocerca peregrina,
„ (?) adusta.
„ (/) genuale,
CEdipoda flavum,
Chrotogonus hemipterus,
Phyllochoreia hippiscus.
HYMENOPTERA.
FORMICIDiE.
Camponotus maculatus,
Hoplomyrmtts gagates.
Dory his diadema,
Paltothyreus pestilentius,
Carebara colossus.
MUTILLIDyE.
Mutilla ignava,
„ astarie,
ScOLIIDwE.
Dielis sulcata.
ZOOLOGY
381
Bembicid^e.
Bembex undulata,
POMPILIDiE.
Pompilus bracatus,
SPHEGIDiE.
PelopiBus eckloni,
ProncBus maxiliaris,
Sphex boJumani,
VESPIDiE.
Polistes marginalis.
ScUTELLERIDiE.
SpJuerocoris argus.
Libyssa duodecimpunctata.
PENTATOMIDiE.
Atelocera foveata.
„ viridesecens,
Piezostemum mucronatum,
Aspongopus nubilis.
Pentatoma cincticollis,
Rhaphigaster viridulus,
Phyllocephala costaiis.
HEMIPTERA.
EUMENIDiE.
Eumena tinctor,
Rhynchium synagrioides.
APIDiE.
Megachile rufiventris.
„ temiinata.
Apis ligustica,
Xylocopa africana,
„ nigrita,
„ flavorufa.
COREIDiE.
Mictis heteropus,
Petascelis remipes,
PYRRHOCORIDiE.
Dysdercus fasciatus.
REDVVIlDiE.
Petalochirus umbrosus,
„ variegatus,
Harpactor segmentarius.
NEPIDiE.
Hydrocyrius Columbia,
Laccotrephes ruber.
APPENDIX VIII.
LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA RECORDED FROM BRITISH
CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is founded on the papers published by Dr. A. G. Butler, F.L.S., in the Proceedings
of the Zoological Society for 1893 and 1895. The term sp, nov, indicates that the new species was first
made known by our collections.
Rhopalocera
Amauris ochlea, I
Amauris lobettgula, j
Amauris whyiei {sp, nov,),
Amauris dominicanus,
Livinas chrysippus,
Limnas klugii,
Limnas dorippus.
Tirumaia peiiverana,
Melanitis solandra.
(Butterflies).
Melanitis libya,
Gnophodes diversa.
Mycaksis {Monotrichiis) rhacotis,
Mycalesis (Monotrichiis) eusirus,
Mycaksis {Monotrichiis) mtriam,
Mycaksis ena,
Samanta perspicua,
Physcosnura pione^ and do var. lucida^
n. var.
382
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Neoccenyra ypthimoides {sp, nov.),
Ypthima itonia,
Ypthima granulosa,
Ypthima simplicia,
Charaxes saturnus.
„ „ var. laticinctus,
Charaxes jocaste.
Charaxes guderiana,
Charaxes whytei {sp, nov.).
Charaxes bohemanL
Charaxes castor^ var. flavifasciatus.
Charaxes achcemenes,
Charaxes phceus,
Charaxes pithodoris,
Charaxes cUhceron,
Charaxes tiridates,
Charaxes neanthes,
Charaxes brutus,
Charaxes druceanus,
Charaxes pollux,
Charaxes candiope,
Charaxes ethalion,
Charaxes lastL
Charaxes leoninus,
Charaxes violetta,
Charaxes eupale,
Charaxes varanes.
Hypolimnas misippus,
Hypolimnas alcippoides,
Hypolimnas inaria,
Euralia wahlbergi,
Euralia mima,
Panopea expansa.
Junonia artaxia,
Junonia nachtigalii,
Junonia tugela,
Junonia natalica,
Junonia chapunga.
Junonia ceryne,
Junonia galami,
Junonia aurorina {sp. nov.).
Junonia trimenii {sp. nov.).
Junonia calescens {sp. no2f.).
Junonia elgiva.
Junonia cuama.
Junonia simia.
Junonia cloantha.
Junonia actia.
Junonia sesamus.
Junonia bodpis.
Junonia delia.
Junonia cebrene.
Pyrameis cardui.
Protogoniomorpha definita.
Protogoniomorpha anacardii.
Cymothoe theobene.
Hamanumida dadalus.
Neptis agatha.
Atella columbina.
Euphcedra neophron.
Euphcedra coralia.
Pseudargynnis hegemone.
Crenis natalensis.
Crenis crawshayi {sp. nov.).
Crenis boisduvalii.
Metacrenis rosa.
Metacrenis crawshayi.
Hamanumida dcedaius.
Catuna criihea.
Neptis agatha.
Atella columbina,
Byblia vulgaris.
Euryicla dryopc.
Hypanis acheloia.
Acroea vinidia.
Acraa cabira.
Acroea excelsior.
Acraa ventura.
Acrcea terpsichore.
Acrasa perrupta.
Acrcea lycia.
Acrcea doubledayi,
Acrcea empusa {sp. nov.).
Acrcea periphanes.
Acraa caldarena.
Acrcea acrita.
Acrcea guillemei.
Acrcea natalica.
Acrcea serena var. perrupta,
Acrcea arcticincta.
Acrcea areca.
Acrcea acara.
Acrcea oncoea,
Acrcea buxtoni.
ZOOLOGY
383
AcrcKa sganzint\
Flanema johnstoni,
Alcena nyassce,
Alcsna nyassa^ var. ochracea.
Alcana amazula,
jPofyommatus bceticus,
Azanus occidentalism
Tarucus plinius,
Nacaduba sichela,
Tingra amenaida,
Lachnocnema bibulus,
Hyreus lingeus,
Zizera knysna,
Zizera lucida.
Zizera gaika.
Zyccenesthes bubastus,
Lyccenesthes adherball
Lycctnesthes liodes,
Catochrysops osiris.
Catochrysops asopus,
Casialius hypoleucus {sp, nov,),
Casialius calice,
Azanus natalensis.
lolaus buxtoni,
lolaus calculus,
Myrina ficedula,
Tarucus pulcher,
Tatura philippus,
Taiura ccbcuIus,
Virachola anta,
Spindasis nyassa,
Spindasis homeyeri,
Axiocerses amanga.
Axiocerses harpax,
Axiocerses perion,
Mylothris agathina.
Mylothris rUppelli,
Afylothris yuiei,
Nychitona aicesta,
Colias edusa,
Terias zoe,
Terias ieonis.
Tagiades flesus.
Proteides erinnys,
Sarangesa tnotozi.
Terias regularis.
Terias orientis,
Teracolus rhodesinus {sp, nov,),
Teracolus phlegyas,
Tercuolus anax,
Teracolus opalescens,
Teracolus hildebrandtii,
Teracolus subfasciatus.
Teracolus sipylus,
Teracolus eniini,
Teracolus theogone,
Teracolus subvenosus,
Teracolus omphale,
Caiopsilia florella.
Catopsilia pyrene.
Belenois severina,
Belenois agrippina.
Belenois gidica,
Belenois crawshayi {sp, nav.)
Belenois thysa,
Belenois calypso,
Belenois mesentina,
Belenois diminuta {sp, nov.).
Phrissura nyassana,
Herpcenia eriphia,
Gluiophrissa saba,
Nepheronia ihalassina,
Eronia leda,
Eronia cleodora,
Papilio lurlinus,
Papilio policenes,
Papilio porthaon,
Papilio py lades.
Papilio similis,
Papilio leonidas.
Papilio corinneus,
Papilio nivinox (sp, nov,),
Papilio demoleus,
Papilio ophidicephalus,
Papilio constantinus,
Papilio merope,
Papilio erinus.
HESPERiDiE (Skippers).
Sarangesa moiozoides ?
Sarangesa astrigera (sp. nov,),
Nephile funebris.
384
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Caprona pillaana.
Caprona jamesonL
Hesptria dromus,
Aderos philander.
Acleros placidus,
Oxypalpus ruso,
Osmodes ranoha,
Heteropterus formosus (sp. nov,),
Cyclopides quadrisignaius {sp. nov.).
Cydopides midas (sp. nov,).
Cydopides willeniu
Padraona watsoni {sp. nov,).
Gegenes letterstedti.
Baoris fatuellus.
Baoris inconspicua.
J^aoris aniadhu ?
Halpe nigerrima {sp. nov.).
Halpe lugens.
Baracusfenestratus {sp. nov.).
Ceratrichia siellaia.
Acromackus 1 Johns toni {sp. nov.).
Heterocera (Moths).
Cephonodes hylas.
^llopus hirundo.
Charocatnpa osiris.
Daphnis nerii.
Nephde accentifera.
Nephele fimebris.
^gocera menete.
j^gocera fervida.
Charilina amabilis.
Xanthospilopteryx superba.
Antiphdla airinotata.
Syntomis ceres.
Diospage sdntillans {sp. nov.).
Neurosymploca procrioides {sp. nov.).
Anomceotes nigrivenosus {sp. nov.).
Staphylinochrous whytei {sp. nov.).
Pleretes thelwalli.
Lepista trimenii.
Deiopeia pulchella.
Argina leonina.
Argina amanda.
Egybolia paillantina,
Hibrildes norax.
Rhanidophora phedonia.
Canopus rubripes.
Ladpa bizonoides {sp. nov.).
Artaxa ochraceata.
Olapa fulvinotata {sp. fiov.)
Aroa discalis.
Leptosoma Uuconoe.
Antheua simpUx.
Fhiala costipunda ?
Pseudapfielia apoUinaris.
Buna^a epithyrefia.
Gynanisa maia.
y^dia duldstriga.
Polydesma untbricola.
Calliodes rivuligera {sp. nov.).
Calliodes glaucescens {sp. nov.).
Phxgorista zebra.
Acontia graellsii.
Patula walkeri.
Cyligramma rudilinea.
Cyligramma latona.
Cyligramma limadna.
Maxula capensis.
Entomogramma pardus.
Entomogramma nigriceps.
Dysgonia algira.
Dysgonia derogans.
Grammodes geometrica.
Fodina johnstoni.
Trigonodes hyppasia.
Drasteria judicans.
Plecoptera {sp. inc.).
Azazia rubricans.
Remigia mutuaria.
Remigia archesia.
Remigia repanda.
Lacera capella.
Ophiodes crocdpetinis.
Deva commoda.
Plusia eriosoma.
Hypena abyssinialis.
Glyphodes sinuata.
Gonodela brongusaria.
ZOOLOG
385
Gonodda kilimanjarensis,
Gonodela zombina (sp, nov.),
Tephrina johnstoni (sp, nov,),
Stemorrhages sericea.
Haritalodes multilinealis.
Lygropia muscerdalis.
Cadorma sinuata.
APPENDIX IX
LIST OF COLEOPTERA RECORDED FROM BRITISH
CENTRAL AFRICA
Note. — This list is founded on the paper published by Mr. C. J. Gahan, M.A., in the Zoological
Society's Proceedings for 1893.
Cicindela dathrata.
Anthia fornasini,
Graphipierus salince,
Scarites superdliosus,
Teffbts violaceus,
Tefflus deUgorguei,
Cydosomus {sp, inc),
Rhaihymus mdanarius,
Staphylinus procerus {sp, nov,)
Oredochilus bicostatus,
Trox melancholicus,
Anachalcos convexus,
Catharsius platycerus,
Hdiocopris japdus,
Onthophagus bicallosus,
Lepidioia Upidota.
Adordus {sp, inc),
Cyphonistes vallaius,
Trochalus {sp, inc.),
Anomala {sp, inc,),
Popillia sercna,
Fopillia distinguenda,
Goliathus kirkianus,
Ranzania petersiana,
Neptunides polychrous,
Ceraiorhina princeps,
Heterorhina dongata,
Genyodonia quadricomis,
Cdonia impressa,
25
Rhabdotis aulica,
Diplognatha hebrc&a.
Diplognatha silicea,
Pseudodinteria infuscaia,
Oxythyrea vitiicoUis.
Sternocera funebris,
Psiloptcra proximo,
Psiloptera amicta,
Psiloptera {sp, inc),
Psiloptera {sp, inc),
Agrilus grandis.
Lycus {sp, inc),
Trachynotus sordidus,
Anchophthalmus sUphoides,
Catamerus rugosus {sp. nov.)
Zophosis agaboides.
Rhytidonota gradlis,
Psammodes dimidiatus.
Mylabris dicincta.
Mylabris bihumerosa.
Mylabris tristigma.
Epicauta nyassensis.
Epicauta ccelestina.
Coryna apidpustulata.
Lixus {sp, inc),
Sphadasmus camelus,
Attdabus {Pleurolabus), {sp, inc),
Blosyrus carinatus.
386
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mecaspis whyiei {sp. nov,).
Phileniatium nitidipenne,
Anubis frontalis [sp, nor.).
Lophoptera asperula.
Tragocephala variegate.
Ceroplesis coffer.
Cymatura bifasciata^ var. nigripennis.
Nitocris simiiis (sp. nav.).
Phrissoma giganteum.
Phryneta spinaior.
Apomecyna latefasciata.
Sagra johnstoni {sp. nov.).
Cory nodes dejeani.
Cory nodes zombce (sp. nov.).
Colasposoma cyaneocupreum.
Coiasposoma (sp. inc.).
Ceralces ferrugineus,
Ceralces natalensis.
Ceralces ornata.
Atcchna clarki.
Oides coiiaris,
Diacantha distincta (sp. nov.).
Diacantha conifera.
Ootheca (sp. inc.).
Pachytoma gigantea.
Cassida hybrida.
Cctssida parummaculata.
Cydonia lunata.
Epilachna paykulli.
Epilachna hirta.
Epilachna dregei.
3^
AN ANGONI MAN FROM THE WEST NYASA DISTRICT
CHAPTER X.
THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL
AFRICA
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIGENOUS HUMAN RACES CONSIDERED
ANTHROPOLOGICALLY AND ETHNOLOGICALLY
AS already stated in my review of the History of British Central Africa,
the Native Races of this part of Africa belong at the present day to the
Bantu Negro stock — entirely so, linguistically, and mainly so physically, ^
though in certain tribes there are traces of a former Bushman-Hottentot
intermixture.
Considered from the point of view of language-relationships, customs and
traditions, the Bantu negroes of the Eastern half of British Central Africa fall
naturally into ten groups, which, commencing in the north-west and proceeding
southwards and eastwards, may be enumerated as follows : —
1. The Awemba^ stock, — to which apparently belong also the Awa-wisa or
Aba-bisa,2 Ba-bozwa, Ba-usi* and the Ba-lunga. The Awemba and kindred
peoples inhabit the western portion of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, the
district lying between Tanganyika and Mweru, and the country round Bang-
weolo, and to the east of the River Luapula, with the exception of an enclave
round the south end of Lake Mweru and east of the Luapula, which is
inhabited (at any rate as a dominant race) by the
2. A-lunda. The Alunda are related to the A-rua, farther to the north, and
belong to a very important and widespread branch of the Bantu people in the
heart of South Central Africa. The Alunda or A-rua race once formed a huge
kingdom in the southern part of the Congo Basin — a kingdom which extended
from the vicinity of Angola on the west to Lakes Tanganyika and Mweru on
the east, but which gradually split up into independent satrapies which became
in time kingdoms by themselves.
3. The A-lungu.* This group which like the A-lunda is specially notable
for having reduced the plural prefix from aba- to <2-, occupies the southern and
south-eastern shores of Tanganyika, and a portion of the Nyasa-Tanganyika
plateau.
* In Itawa these people call themselves Aba-emba, and are sometimes spoken of as the Ba-bemba.
^ In these parts the b is already melting into w at the beginning of words.
' Or We-usi.
* Sometimes called the Arungu-Amambwe stock, which again are related to the A-fipa on German
territory.
389
39°
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
4. The Awa-nkonde^ stock. This includes amongst other tribes the Awa-
wandia, the Awa-nyakiusa, the Awa-ndali, the Awa-kukwe, the Awa-rambia,
the Awa-wiwa, the Awa-nyamwanga, and the Awa-wanda and the Awungu*
(the two last on German territory). The
languages of the Awa-nkonde stock are gene-
rally remarkable for their archaic character in
preserving many old Bantu roots and gram-
matical forms. Their full form of the plural
prefix of the second class (referring to human
beings) is almost always Awa-, the only races,
with the exception of the Awemba, in which
this form is met with. They inhabit the
northern and north-west coasts of Lake Nyasa
and much of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau,
and extend north-westwards to the shores of
Lake Rukwa.
5. The Ba-tumbuka stock. This includes
the Wa-tonga, the A-timbuka or Ba-tumbuka,
and to some extent the Wa-henga, A-nyika,
and A-poka, though these two latter groups
are of somewhat obscure affinities. The Wa-
henga may possibly be a mongrel race, formed
by the mingling of refugees from many tribes.
It is possible that this linguistic group may
extend to the Upper Luangwa River.
6. The Nyanja stock. This is the largest
and most important of all and includes the
following tribes : — The A-senga^ of the north
bank of the Zambezi and the river Luangwa ;
the A-maravi; the A-chipeta; the A-makanga;
the Va-dema ; the Va-nyungwi of Tete ; the
A-maftanja,* of the Lower Zambezi, the Lower
Shire, the Western Shire, the Shire Highlands,
the Mlanje district and the Upper Shire ; the
Ambo, south of the River Ruo ; the Ma-
chinjiri of the eastern bank of the Lower
Shire ;^ the A-nyanja of Lake Chilwa, of the
south coast of Lake Nyasa and of the eastern
coast of that lake about as far north as the
Portugo- German frontier; and finally the
A-chewa of the west coast of Lake Nyasa.^
7. The Ba-tonga or Ba-toka stock, which
includes amongst other sections the Ba-ramba
^ The word "Nkonde'' means ''banana" in some of the adjacent languages, and was no doubt applied
with aptness to the North Nyasa district which is singularly rich in banana groves.
* Originally Awa-ungu. ' Sometimes called Ba-senga : their language is closely related to Ki-bisa.
* This is a case of a double plural. The root -Hanja is the same as -nyanja (meaning a lake, a sea, a
big water). Ma- which is often used as a tribal prefix would mean, " the people of the lake," but in
course of time it became so united to the root -flanja that it is now preceded by an additional plural
prefix, a- {aba-).
• This branch of the Nyanja stock reaches to the vicinity of the Quelimane district where it touches
the Makua races.
• These people are sometimes called the A-nkomanga.
A M NYANJA
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 391
and Ba-lala, and which occupies the country on the banks of the River Kafue
and between the Luapula and the Luangwa, and to which are related the
Ba-nyai and Ba-toka on the south bank of the Central Zambezi.
8. Along the course of the Zambezi from Zumbo to its mouth are a people,
more or less attached to the Portuguese, of very mixed origin, the A-chikunda,
who speak a mongrel dialect chiefly based on the Nyanja stock. The
A-chikunda have no homogeneity but are compounded of the old slaves of the
Portuguese brought from many different parts of Eastern and Central Africa,
who are more or less loyal subjects of the Portuguese and who have developed
this lingua franca, the Chikunda,
into which a large number of the
Portuguese words are introduced.
9. The A-lolo and Makua group.
This section only enters into a
very small portion of the territory
of the British Protectorate in the
Mlanje district. Elsewhere it ex-
tends right across to the east coast
of Africa in the province of Mozam-
bique and along the Mozambique
coast southwards to Quelimane,
where a kindred language is
spoken : and lastly,
10. The Yao peoples, the " Wa-
yao."^ The Yao are not present
in British Central Africa as indi-
genous inhabitants but rather as
invaders whose coming was not
earlier than the middle of this
century. At the present time they
are settled in more or less numerous
proportion among the indigenous
Anyanja in the east part of the
Shire province, on the south-east
coast of Lake Nyasa and at one
or two places on the south-west
shores of the lake. Elsewhere they
extend as a native people along
the banks of the Lujenda and Ruvuma rivers, and also inhabit the high
plateaux between those streams, and march with the Makua on the south-east
and the Magwangwara^ on the north-west.
In addition to the foregoing list of tribes which are really native to British
Central Africa, may be cited the Angoni and the Makololo, who are in reality
not races but simply a ruling caste dwelling in the midst of British Central
African tribes whom their ancestors subdued. The Angoni, and the Magwang-
wara on the north-east of Nyasa, are relics of former Zulu invasions of the
A YAO MAN
* The Yao pronunciation of their tribal name is usually Wa-hiau with a distinct aspirate, which is the
more remarkable as in all other words of the language the aspirate '' h " is unknown, and where ^' h " has
to be pronounced in a foreign word **s" is substituted. ** Yao*' however is evidently a modern contrac-
tion of Yawa or ** hiawa." By the A-nyanja people they are known as A-jawa.
* A tribe of Zulu mongrels.
392 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
country.^ The Makololo, as already related, were brought by Livingstone and
were mostly Bechuana and Baloi people from the Upper Zambezi. In their
case they are scarcely even a ruling caste, having simply furnished some twenty
headmen and chiefs to the Maftanja people who dwell on the Central and
Lower Shire ; but inasmuch as their tribal name of Makololo has been adopted
by most of their subjects, and has become famous by the resistance offered
in days gone by to the Portuguese, it is better not to leave them out of this
catalogue.
In the northern part of the British Central Africa Protectorate there are a
few Wa-nyamwezi hunters and adventurers who are mostly in the employ of
Arabs, or free lances on their own account. These men sometimes go by the
nickname of " Ruga-ruga." A few mongrel Arabs and Swahili Coastmen may
still be seen no doubt in the Marimba district of the Protectorate, at the north
end of Lake Nyasa, and in the Yao country; but there are numerous Arab
settlements south of Tanganyika and near Lake Mweru. Here the Arabs are
of a better class, and having managed to keep on good terms with the
Europeans they remain there undisturbed. Arabs are also said to have formed
trading stations to the west of Lake Bangweolo. Where the Arab is not of
African birth (a man of Zanzibar for instance) he is usually a native of
Maskat, in South Eastern Arabia.
The following information in regard to the Anthropology^ and Ethnology
of the negroes of British Central Africa may be taken to have a general
application to the natives of the eastern portion of this territory, except where
any particular tribe is instanced, and where special features, manners and
customs are noted in relation to one tribe which may not be shared by another.
ANTHROPOLOGY
All black negroes possess a certain uniformity of type apparent to the
European: that is to say, all the negroes inhabiting the coast regions of Western
Africa, the basins of the Lower Niger and. the Benue, the shores of Lake Chad,
the basins of the Shari River and the Congo, of the Upper Nile and the Great
Lakes, the East Coast, the Zambezi, and South West and South East Africa.
The Nubians, Fulas, Hausas (perhaps) and the Mandingos may be excepted
^ This is the history of the Angoni (Zulu) invasions of British Central Africa according to various
authorities, especially Dr. W. A. Elmslie of the Livingstonia Mission, Upper Nyasa, who has worked for
many years among these people : A tribe of Zulus originally conquered by Chaloi at the beginning of this
century assumed the name of Ngoni (Aba-ngoni). They were only partially conquered however, and
retained their old chief under Chaka's suzerainty. But becoming dissatisfied with the central tyranny of
the Zulu monarchy they started off in a body with women, children, and cattle for the north. They
crossed the Zambezi at Zumbo, marched up between Nyasa and Bangweolo, and entered the Fipa country
(which they conquered) south-east of Lake Tangan3nka. From Fipa (where they settled for a long time)
some stra^lers under the name of Watuta reached as fJEur north as the Victoria Nyanza ; others struck to
the south-east and by dominating the indigenous people of Hehe and Ngindo stock east of Lake Nyasa
founded the tribe of mongrel raiders known as the Magwangwara. Then came a disruption of the Zulu
kingdom in Fipa. The Ngoni-Zulus quitted that country and turned back to Uie West Nyasa counfries.
One section under Mombera settled in the Tumbuka country ; another under Mpezeni in the lands between
the Nyasa watershed and the River Luangwa ; and a third established the small Zulu kingdom in Central
Angoniland which is now ruled by Chiwere. Where Chikusi's Angoni came from is not very dear:
perhaps they branched off to South-west Nyasa at the time of the original crossing of the Zambezi, which
look place in June, 1825 (the date is marked by an eclipse of the sun). Angoni is the Chi-njraiija form of
their name in the plural and has become the customary term ; but Ngoni or Abangoni is more correct,
* Anthropology is the science descriptive of the physical characteristics of man ; Ethnology the
consideration of his mind and the result of his mental processes, that is to say his arts, his customs, his
beliefs. The first treats of man purely as one amongst many mammalian types ; the other deals with him
in his progress towards the demi-god.
/-.,
^ Ia
\\
Idtotars
^1
EXPLANATION 0
L J Unlnhabtted An
1 1 Under slBhabiu
CL
'] Fronstois „
K^iH From 15 to so,,
^^^^H Ovor 90
ANGONI Nmmtts^Nn
The Edmburgli G«o A'tmhical in^tti)
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
393
from this sweeping statement as showing an unmistakable mingling with a
lighter race and being more Negroid than negro. ^ Nevertheless, within this
wide domain of the black negro there is a remarkable general similarity of
type ; though it is usually possible for the practised eye to distinguish one tribe
from another by the physiognomy. Yet if you took a negro from the Gold
Coast of West Africa and
passed him off amongst a
number of Nyasa natives, and
if he were not remarkably
distinguished from them by
dress or tribal marks, it would
not be easy to pick him out ;
but though there is often an
indefinable resemblance be-
tween the individuals of one
tribe which distinguishes them
from the average individual
of another tribe, still there
are so many exceptions to
this uniformity of type that
the negro from a widely -
removed part of Africa might
pass muster in almost any
people in the British Central
Africa Protectorate as merely
a slightly aberrant local type.
The average individual of one
tribe is taller or shorter than
another, but all races of black
negroes can exhibit very tall
individuals and very short
ones belonging to the same
racial type. In the colour of
the skin there is a consider-
able amount of variation.
Here again there are extremes
met with in the individual
members of a tribe, as well
as a general tendency to be detected in one tribe or another towards greater
average darkness or lightness of skin. As a rule the negro of British Central y
Africa is decidedly black, so far as any human skin is really black — the
nearest approach to actual black being a deep, dull, slatey-brown. I should
say that the average skin tint is represented by No. 3 in Topinard*s specimens
of the colours of skins, — that is to say it is a dark chocolate. But cases
of a yellowish brown are not at all uncommon in individuals. This tint
would be represented by No. 4 in Topinards scale, except that it has a
little more of the raw sienna colour than is given in Topinard's example.
The negroes of the western parts of the regions under review, in Itawa, on
^ The Galla and Somali are of course emphatically Negroid, and are not included in this statement
at all. They are simply darker types of the Hamitic branch midway in type between Semite and the
Negro.
AN ARAB OF TANGANYIKA (RUMALIZA)
394 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
the south end of Tanganyika and along the Luapula, might appear to the
unobservant traveller a very red brown in tint ; but this would be owing
to their habit of colouring themselves (like the people of the Congo basinj
with powdered redwood or camwood mixed with oil, or red-ochre mixed with
fat. Occasionally there are cases of positive " Xanthism," or a state of colora-
tion similar in a much less degree to Albinism — namely that wherein the colour
of the skin and the iris of the eye is quite a light yellowish brown. This tyf>e
is very much admired by the negroes, especially in a woman ; for their general
tendency is to admire the lighter-coloured skin rather than the darker. The
wives of chiefs have often been pointed out to me for special notice who have
skins and eyes of this rather disagreeable pale yellow brown. Perhaps it is the
iris of the eye being of this light yellow colour like that of a lion's eye, which
is so disagreeable. Fine dark eyes with a pale golden skin would certainly
appeal to the European's sense of beauty.
Cases of Albinism, where the hair is yellowish white, the iris of the eye
pink, and the body-skin an unwholesome-looking reddish white, are not un-
common, though perhaps not quite so common as they are on the West Coast
of Africa.
I do not think that any of the tribes in British Central Africa can show
a difference of colour between the rulers or the ruling caste and the mass of
the people. Some of the chiefs are blacker than the majority, others again
are relatively light coloured. In regard to average depth of tint amongst the
various tribes, I should say that those with the blackest skins^ were the
A-lolo, the Atonga, the Awa-nkonde, the A-mambwe, the A-lungu, perhaps
the Aba-bisa and the A-senga. I have seen slaves from the Upper Luapula
River, and from the still more distant Lualaba, who were so very black as
almost to approximate in tint to the deepest shade given by Topinard, No. 2
{which shade however I believe to be impossibly black and not actually to
be found on the skin of any human being existing). Some of the Senga and
Ba-tumbuka slaves amongst the northern Angoni are very black in colour.
The lightest- tinted tribe is probably the Yao. A good many of the
A-nyanja are light tinted, but it is a dirty yellow, which suggests ancient
Bushman - Hottentot intermixture, and is often associated with a low type
of face and a squat body. Occasionally a light - coloured Angoni is seen,
which is no doubt due to his being of a more or less Zulu origin.
As in all other negroes and dark-skinned races, the skin of the inner part
of the hands and the sole of the foot is a pinkish-yellow.* The skin of the
arm-pits is often much lighter in colour than the rest of the body. Negro
children are invariably bom with skins of a pinkish yellow, similar in colour
to that on the hands and feet of the adult. The colour of their skin darkens
rapidly, though in some infants more rapidly than in others. Negroes who
are clothed from their youth up, and lead a life which does not much expose
the naked body to the air, would appear to have skins slightly paler in tone
than those of the average naked negroes.
The texture of the skin is usually coarse and rough unless kept in good
condition by constant washing and oiling. Its natural oily secretion does not
seem to be abundant, to judge by the dry scaly appearance of the skins of
men who from one cause or another have been unable to have recourse to
* Each tribe however constantly offering individual exceptions with specially light colour.
* Apud viros incircumcisos, glans penis colore camoso est ; sed glans circumcisa, ubi exponitur,
nigrescit.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 395
rubbing themselves with oil or fat. At the same time they perspire easily
and freely, and the pores are certainly larger than in Europeans. The most
offensive negro smell would appear to be connected with the glands under
the arm-pits, which exude at times a secretion often confounded with sweat,
but which would appear to me to be of a different character and more oily
A MTONGA MAN (to show profile)
in composition. I cannot assert that this exudation is specially connected
with the sexual functions, or with any particular state of mind or body.
Perhaps when the negro is perspiring heavily, he is more odorous than at
other times. Yet this trait varies a good deal in individuals, and on the
whole (though not altogether) is more or less prominent according to the
degree of cleanliness observed by frequent baths. In the clothed negro it is
sometimes offensive to an appalling degree, rendering it well nigh impossible
396 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
to remain in a closed room with him. The odour is certainly stronger in
men than in women.
Except in cases of Xanthism the colour of the iris of the eye is black,
vbrown, or very dark hazel. In some individuals the sclerotic, or "white" of
the eye, is yellow and clouded ; in others again it is very clear and white.
The clear sclerotic generally accompanies the more refined type of feature,
and the obverse is the case when the "white" is yellovv and murky. The
eyes are rather deeply set than otherwise. I have not seen any case in
which they were prominent or d fleur de tite. Both the upper and under
eyelids are occasionally thick and prominent, especially in the dull, heavy
countenances of slaves, but in smart well-set-up men and women the upj^er
eyelid is often covered by the protuberance of the skin in such a way as
gives a clear-cut, sharp, decided look to a face. I will not say I have never
seen the eyes with an upward turn on the outer side suggestive of an almond
shaped and a Mongoloid look ; but such cases are very exceptional and rare
— much more so than they are in the Congo region, where I have occasionally-
noticed negroes with a distinctly Mongoloid cast of countenance. The cheek
bones are usually prominent — in some cases they are very prominent, though
naturally in a good-looking face their development is less marked. The
nose is almost always a negro nose — that is to say with a broad depressed
bridge (depressed in the malar region), a snub tip, and broad, expanded
nostrils. The average, not by any means the ugliest, type in it may be
observed in my accompanying drawing of the head of an Atonga seen in
profile. In some of the people of Itawa I have noticed noses with rather
arched bridges, somewhat Papuan in type, the arch being rather over the tip
than at the beginning of the bridge.
There is never any prominence of the brows equal to what is seen in the
Australian man. Still on the whole the brow is fairly prominent. Yet many
of the women and some of the men exhibit that peculiar bombi forehead
with brows depressed over the nose which is rather well illustrated in the
portrait of a young Bushman given on p. 53 of Chapter III. The lips are
usually everted and very large. In some of the finer types there is, of course,
considerable modification in this feature, though the thin lip seen in the
European or the Asiatic is never found amongst them. Some .of the lips are
so much everted that a considerable amount of pink skin shows. In the cases
where the mouth is of a finer design and the lip is thinner nothing but the
black skin of the outer part of the lip is visible.^ The teeth are uniformly
excellent — rather large -sized, white, and regular. I have never noticed any
marked projection or exceptional size of the canines, not even as much as
I have often seen in Europeans ; certainly not such as can be seen in the
remarkable Tasmanian skull at the Anthropological Institute,* where the
canines, especially of the upper jaw, are prominent, projecting, and slightly
pointed.
^ The thick everted lip of the negro is not, in my opinion, a Simian characteristic. The most ape-
like £Eices in existing humanity are seen amongst the Chinese and Annamites. In these the upper lip
is long, broad and rather turned in. The long ape-like upper lip is not infrequently seen amongst
Europeans, in certain Celtic types. I imagine that when the negro type began to diverge from the
original human ancestor he retained his long Simian lips, and he got into the habit of turning them inside
out in order to expose the teeth more readily, and to accommodate the inconveniently long lip to the
decreasing size of the jaws and the diminishing prognathism.
* Happy Tasmania, to have possessed the most ape-like form of man ! Unhappy Tasmania, to
have been so ignorant as not to appreciate your privilege, and to have exterminated in your wanton
ignorance this priceless survival !
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 397
The chin is rather retreating in the women, but occasionally the men will
have fine strong chins, though strong and prominent in a peculiar way by a
sharp bulge immediately under the lower lip, a bulge which is clearly scooped
out in a circular form on either side. As a rule there is a decided falling
in of the jaw under the cheek bones while the jaw-bone again bulges out at its
angle near the ear. I have never seen a continuously firm line of jaw, and
another sign equally rare or non-existent is the cleft chin which is often seen
in Europeans. The most prominent points of a negro's face, even of a good j
type, are the projecting cheek bones, the bulging forehead, the broad flat nose,
deep and expanded nostrils, the everted lips, and the sharp, rounded, narrow '
chin.
Almost all the male negroes of British Central Africa grow some moustache.
It is ordinarily of scattered, thick, bristly hair, but sometimes the moustache
hairs at the side are rather tightly curled. The beard is generally present
but often reduced to a long tuft on the chin. In some cases, however, it crosses
from ear to ear (often diminishing or falling off* in the depressed portion of the
jaw-bone on either side of the chin), and a narrow line of whiskers (little curled
hairs) is also present in exceptionally hairy men. The question of face hair
is largely one of cultivation, or no cultivation. Some of the men discourage
hair on their faces and pluck out th^ hairs with a tweezer, others allow them
to grow unchecked, and never
shave, with the result that the
face hair is often scattered
and weak in growth. The
negro men of Central Africa,
as of other parts of the con-
tinent, who attempt to live
like Europeans and begin by
shaving their faces regularly
(instead of plucking out the
hairs as the savages do), can
in course of time grow beard,
whiskers and moustache not
very much less in volume
than those of the average
European.
In some of the Yao a
beard of considerable length
grows from the chin, but this
would seem to hint occasion-
ally at some distant inter-
mixture with the Arab. On
the other hand, the Atonga,
who betray in their history
and racial type no trace of
intermixture with a foreign
race, or with the coastmen,
often possess long, pointed
beards. The hair of the beard
has less tendency to curl than
that of the head or body a yao of the upper shire
398
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The colour of the hair on the head and face is invariably black in adults,
though in extreme childhood the hair of head and body is distinctly brownish,
even to being a light brown. In the children at birth and for a little time after
birth the hair on the head and body is nearly straight. The body-hair in
children is a faintly discernible pale-coloured fluff, apparently a vestige of the
body-hair which at one period of development, antecedent to expulsion from
the womb, clothes the human foetus in all races. It seldom lasts on the negro
child for many weeks after birth.
On the adult man body-hair is almost always present when not plucked out.
Amongst many of these negroes there is a dislike to any hair on the body.
That on the chest, arms and legs is plucked out, and the hair of the arm-pits
and pubes is shaved, or also plucked out. But in many tribes and individuals
no check is put on the growth of the body-hair/v;;^t is then most abundant
round the nipples and right across the chest, and down the median line of the
stomach. There is considerable growth of hair on the pubes,^ and in the
arm-pits, on the shins of the legs and, in a lesser degree, on the forearms. I
do not ever remember to have seen hair growing on a negro's back, as may
often be observed on the backs of Europeans and sometimes of the hairier races
of Asiatics. The negro's body-hair is usually curled semi-circular in growth, but
not as tightly curled as the hair on the head. Among these negroes of Central
Africa, as among almost all the true black negroes, the hair grows evenly over
the scalp and not in sparse separate tufts as in the Bushman-Hottentots. This
style of growth, which the French call floconn^, is well illustrated in the photo-
graph of a Bushman boy given on p. 53 of this book.
The ear is ordinarily small, rounded, well shaped, and set far back, close to
the head, but its original shape is often much
modified by the various fashions which are
in vogue for the lengthening of the ear-lobe.
In some portions of British Central Africa,
notably among the Angoni-Zulus, the A-lungu,
and A-mambwe (as amongst the Masai and
other Eastern African races) a hole is drilled
in the lobe of the ear, through which a small
quill or reed is passed. By degrees tlie hole
is widened by the introduction of larger sub-
stances till at last the lobe hangs down in a
hideous loop on to the shoulders.
As in all true negroes there is a marked
development of the breasts in the male.
Pictures and photographs of beardless men
are often taken for representations of women
owing to the marked swelling of the breasts,
and their slightly pendulous nature. Some- .
times it has occurred even to myself to ask,
looking at some youth, " Is it a man or a
woman?" — so woman-like would be the well -developed mammce which yet
seemed inconsistent with the very straight shoulders and small hips. But
with this exception there is nothing dubious about the manly appearance of the
^ In Portuguese Guinea, or that portion of Africa which lies between Sierra Leone and the Gambia,
there is a race which possesses such an extraordinary growth of hair on the pubes, both in the male
and female, that it hangs down in a thick mat and covers the pudenda.
AN ANGONI FROM MOMBERA's COUNTRY
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 399
*'^
male negro, whose virile development is as marked as it is in the man of
European race.
In the young woman who has not borne children the breasts are plump,
but are set rather low down on the thorax and the nipples have a tendency
to turn up. As soon as a woman has borne a child the breasts are dragged
down and become two ugly leather bags in appear-
ance. This change is much aided by the prevailing
fashion which holds such a thing creditable, if not
beautiful. Many women flatten their breasts by
tying a band tightly round their chests. In some
women the length of the pendulous breast is such
that it can be turned back over the shoulder, and
the child can be suckled when tied to its mother's
back. The drawing on the next page shows this
condition of the breast clearly. Cases of umbilical
hernia are very common and begin in childhood
from various causes. Occasionally the protuberance
at the navel is considerable, resembling the curved
neck of a gourd.
In both sexes the development of the external
sexual organs is large — larger than in the European
(white) r^ce, more considerable still than among
the Mongoloid (yellow) races of^ Asia, America,
and the Pacific.^
Amongst the men I have never noticed any
cases of steatopygy. The women have, as a rule,
well-developed buttocks, but nothing approaching
the extraordinary appearance so characteristic of
the Hottentot. In men the development of the
buttocks is less than in the Europeans, and in
children it is extremely small, the child being almost straight up and down. ^
The hands and feet vary a good deal in type.
The thumb is often well developed, but the fingers have a tendency to be
stumpy. I have never seen any but short nails. The lines in the palm of the
hand are usually few and simple, but are very deeply marked in dark colour.
The " line of head " is as might be expected usually short and not unfrequently
is missing. Strange to say there is very often a " line of fate " extending right
up and down the palm.
^ Pudenda muliebria augentur simili sed non aequa ratione atque in simiis: nam simianim et cyno-
cephalorum labra circum vulvam habent multo majora quam mulieres. Praeterea apud simias os vulvte
solum a tergo ostenditur : anus alte locatus clunibus non celatur. Hoc modo etiam y^thiopissa ex Africa
centrali simiis similis est : nam pneter labrorum clitoridisc^ue auctum, os vulvse magis quam apud mulieres
Europxas retro dirigitur. Mares /Kthiopes penem eximia magnitudine habent ; magis ex ratione cyno-
cephalorum quam simiarum : nam simiae anthropoides penem non perbrevem s«d tenuem et glande minima
atque pneamta habent. In hac re inter multas alias indoles prisca in hominibus apparet, necjue in simiis
qu£e aliter evolvuntur. In hac nudorum hominum terra penis parvus rarus est: in Afnca Centrali,
pncsertim apud Nyasai septentrionalis indigcnas (Wankonde), vir mediocri corpore grande membrum
virile plerumque habet. Membrum quiescens fere sex uncias longum, excitatum usque ad novem vel
decem uncias porrigitur. Pr%putium natura pr^longum est : multae tribus igitur circumcisione utuntur.
' One of the chief points in which the anthropoid apes differ from man is in the poor development of
the gluteal muscles. Sir Richard Owen styled them *'bird-rumped" in consequence of this want of
posterior development, a development which is to some extent the result of the upright position, though
that the remote ancestors of man had a tendency to fleshy protu Iterances on either side of the sacnim is
shown in the swollen callosities on monkeys' rumps.
BOY WITH VVELL-DKV ELOPED BREASTS
400
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The commonest type of foot is one which is well illustrated in the accom-
panying illustration of Wankonde men, in which the great toe is rather short
and much on a level with the other toes. Sometimes the toes are a good deal
spread out, and there is certainly a tendency for the foot to assume slightly
simian characteristics by the tread being a good deal pressed on the outer side
of the foot while the instep inside is somewhat incurved, and the wide-spread
A YOUNG MOTHER (SHOWING PENDENT BREASTS)
toes slant somewhat inwards. The shins are slightly bowed. The development
of calf varies a good deal. Amongst the natives inhabiting mountains it is as
well developed as in Europeans. Elsewhere in the plains it is sometimes
rather sparse.
As regards height : the average height of the men is about 5 ft. 6 in. The
tallest male measured was 6 ft. 3 in. ; the shortest, 5 ft. Tall men of 5 ft. 10 in.
to 6 ft. are very common especially among the Wankonde, Yao, and Angoni.
The average height of the women would be about 5 feet.
The average of measurements taken of a number of well-grown males
(5 ft. 8 in. in height) gave the following results : — Round the chest, a circum-
ference of 34I inches ; round the waist, 29^ inches ; round the buttocks,
WANKONDE MEN
26
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 403
33^ inches; thickest part of thigh, i8J; length of arm from shoulder to tip
of second finger, 32^ inches ; from chin to pubes, 26| inches ; pubes to ankle-
bone, 3ii inches ; fork of legs to heel, 32! inches ; wrist to end of second finger,
8^ inches; first joint of thumb to tip, ij inch; ankle-bone to
tip of big toe, 8 inches.
In women of an average height of 5 ft. the measurement
round the buttocks ranged from 35 J in. to 37^. The women have
thumbs of slightly smaller proportionate length than those of
the males.
As regards the quality of the voice in these Central African
negroes, although there is never any marked development of
" Adam's Apple " in the throat the men have full, deep, virile-
sounding voices ; much deeper and more manly in tone than is
the case with the natives of India. In singing, the commonest
kind of men's voices is tenor and after tenor, baritone. A bass
voice is rare. When untrained by Europeans their singing is
nasal and they are much given to using the falsetto voice.
The women's voices are usually low and melodious, not
differing ordinarily very much in tone from those of European
women. The laugh of an African man is deep-chested and
hearty, and does one good to hear ; but the boys and youths and ^ munkonde
the full-grown girls can develop under European influence what /"^h" J^hJ" on^)
is known as the " mission giggle," as it is peculiarly characteristic
of the young people attached to the mission schools. I suppose it arises from
the constant desire to laugh and a feeling that such merriment is unseemly
and should be suppressed.
These negroes, considering their almost absolute nudity in the savage state,
bear cold remarkably well up to a certain point Beyond that point, especially
if the cold be accompanied by wet, they collapse with such suddenness as
actually to be in danger of dying from cold. But they will reside for weeks on
the top of high mountains and plateaux like Mlanje where the temperature
may be down to 40"* in the daytime, and 29° at night, and yet wear nothing but
the usual loin cloth in the daytime, and consider themselves sufficiently
shielded by a covering of thin calico at night provided they can light a fire
and go to sleep with their feet towards the blaze. In the Zambezi Valley and
on the Lower Shire, where the climate is hottest they are apparently more
sensitive to night chills. In this region they weave a curious bag or case of
matting which is called "mfumba." They creep into this at night and look
exactly like so many bales done up in matting.
Exposure to the sun, when not combined with severe fatigue and thirst, does
them no harm whatever.
Their skulls are very thick and though the hair is often shaved for cleanli-
ness they require no head-covering to break the force of the sun's rays.
Nevertheless here again, in the regions bordering on the Zambezi from copying
European habits the natives have become more sensitive to the want of a
head covering, and wear large broad-brimmed straw hats of native manufacture.
Muhammadanised negroes use the small white skull-cap characteristic of the
Arab, round which they often wind a piece of cloth as a turban. After a time
these people get used to a head-covering and do not like to dispense with it.
Central African negroes are very thirsty people and scarcely suffer less than
Europeans in travelling long distances on foot without frequent drinking. A
404 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
thirst of several hours under a broiling sun, combined with a long march and a
heavy load to carry will soon make them " sun-sick," but I have never known
a case of actual sunstroke, or any fatality to arise from exposure to the sun's
rays.
Their strength, speed and endurance vary somewhat between tribe and
tribe, some peoples being by inherited use and custom able to travel long
distances and carry heavy loads, while others are bad walkers or bad climbers
and of little use as porters. As a rule, however, the native is a good walker
and without a load can travel easily thirty miles a day on foot. With a load of
45 lbs. he can do a steady twenty miles a day when in good condition. The
Wanyamwezi carriers of East Central Africa are celebrated for being able to
carry loads of 1 00 lbs. and to keep on the march at a good rate of speed for
twenty to twenty-five miles a day. No race that I know of within the limits
of British Central Africa can do as much. The Wa-yao are the best carriers
we possess. They can manage a load of from 50 to 55 lbs. with ease ; but the
A-nyanja will scarcely carry any single load that weighs more than 45 lbs.
The Wankonde people at the north end of Lake Nyasa only quite recently
averred that they could carry no loads at all ; and certainly those amongst
them who volunteered as carriers for my expedition to Tanganyika in 1889,
though they seemingly started with the best intentions, so completely went to
pieces after the first few days of porterage that in pity I had to relieve them of
their loads. The Atonga are good carriers though not so good as the Yao.
They are celebrated, however, for their confidence in the white man and their
willingness to accompany him on journeys of very great length. The Makua
and Alolo make excellent carriers. They probably rival the Yao in r^^rd to
the weight of loads they will cheerfully bear (50 to 60 lbs.) and the speed at
which they will travel (twenty miles a day). It is rare to find even a native
brought up in the plains who cannot climb mountains better than a white man,
but those tribes who dwell in the hills are veritable goats in agility and sureness
of foot In ascending the steep face of a mountain like Mlanje it is marvellous
to see native porters with a box of 50 lbs. weight on their heads crawling up
the face of a rock like so many cats and not dropping their loads, which they
will hold on with one hand while with the other they clutch at any little
projection which may assist them, or use a long wand like a small alpenstock.
They assist themselves a good deal with their slightly prehensile big toe and
the foot gets a better grasp of a rounded surface than it does with the European ^
who is booted.
The women have considerable muscular development owing to the hard
work to which they are put from childhood. The average muscular development
in the men is good ; their figures are well knit and harmonious in outline. As
regards pace in running they can outrun most Europeans and almost any native
of India that has yet competed with them. They can likewise jump well.
Here again the Wa-yao excel most of the other tribes. On the other hand in
such experiments as we have made we have found that they could neither
hurl a spear nor shoot an arrow as well as an average untrained European.
Nor are they, as a rule, good at throwing ; yet, when cricket is introduced
they soon pick up the idea of bowling.
They are good acrobats. Here, again, the Wa-yao surpass the others. At
our military sports or other great gatherings of this description Yao, Atonga,
Makua, and Mambwe will turn somersaults, walk on their hands, stand on their
^ At the same time the English seaman can probably climb belter than any native.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 405
heads, and perform some very passable clowning. The natives dwelling in the
vicinities .of lakes or rivers almost invariably swim from childhood. They can
swim long distances without becoming unduly exhausted. When swimming at
great speed they proceed hand over hand, otherwise they move their arms and
legs simultaneously.
Briefly, it must be said in regard to exercises of the body there is almost
nothing that the Central African negro will not rapidly learn. In no exercise of
skill or speed that we have yet tried (whether it be native or foreign) is the
SKETCH OF MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT IN A YAO
4o6 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
negro able to excel the better type of white man, but it is conceivable that with
a few generations of careful physical training he may be able to perform some
physical feats better than the European.
Their sight is excellent In this respect they are much superior to the
average European. Cases of myopia are very rare, if indeed they exist at all.
Their sense of hearing is probably better than ours, but on the other hand I
should think that we had an acuter sense of smell, certainly of taste and
probably also of touch.
As regards the postures and movements of the body, the native is able to
put himself into positions almost impossible to a European or, at any rate, very
uncomfortable. Thus, when he is tired of standing on both legs, he will rest
himself by bending one leg and placing the foot against the inside of the knee
of the other leg. This is a position often assumed by the natives of all Tropical
Africa, and is very well illustrated in Dr. Schweinfurth's celebrated book.^
Sitting down, the native will squat on his heels and rump, exactly like a baboon.
It is almost impossible for a European to do this. They can also sit with
crossed legs as is done by Asiatics, but this is not a posture much affected
except by the Muhammadanised, or by those who are mixed with Arab blood.
The favourite position in sleeping is to lie flat on the stomach with the forehead
resting on the folded arms. They will also occasionally lie on the back or on
the side, and if they are suffering from cold and endeavouring to cover their
bodies with a small piece of cloth they can curl themselves up with the knees
almost touching the chin.
In micturition the position is a standing one except where Muhammadanism
has introduced a squatting posture, which is of course that assumed by the
women. In parturition it is said that the women ordinarily stand upright,
often holding on to a beam or supported under the arm-pits by other women.
The body is well balanced and upright in walking, and in fact their carriage
is singularly erect and often very graceful. This applies to both sexes and
arises to some extent from the custom of balancing loads on the head. It
is rare to see a negro in ordinary good health with bowed shoulders and a
convex curve to the back. Perhaps, on the whole, the tendency as regards the
position of the toes in walking is slightly inwards and in some tribes of a
lower physical type the weight of the body is "often borne on the outer edge
of the foot and heel giving an inward twist to the lines of the toes.
Undoubtedly the favourite mode of carrying things of any weight is on
the head where they are kept in position by the left hand. They seem to
object to carrying loads on the shoulders or back even if the load itself is
fixed to a pole and the other end of the pole is borne by another porter. This
dislike, however, is lessening now by the necessity for transporting loads which
are beyond one man's endurance, and still more by the increasing use of the
"machilla" or hammock, a travelling conveyance slung on a long bamboo
pole which pole is borne on the shoulders of two or four men, as the case may
be, walking in single file. The use of the machilla, however, is a quite recent
institution except in those lands bordering the Zambezi. When Europeans
first came to British Central Africa the natives disliked carrying them in this
way, though they were willing on occasions to deal with them as they would
with their own chiefs, by bearing them for short distances on their shoulders,
in the position in which the unfortunate Sindbad had to carry the " Old Man
of the Sea." Even now, in the northern part of British Central Africa it is
* Heart of Africa,
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
407
customary for the chief to travel in this fashion, and it is a means of pro-
gression I have frequently made use of myself with great advantage when
traversing marshes or thick grass jungle.
Various positions and gestures are used in salutation. In the southern part
of British Central Africa the natives kneel and clap their hands. In the
countries bordering on some of the Portuguese possessions and in Makualand,
the natives clap their hands and simultaneously scrape their feet backwards
along the ground, one foot at a time. In the northern districts of Lake
Nyasa and thence westward, the
position in salutation is most
extraordinary, especially if it is
an inferior saluting a superior.
The man who is greeting you
will throw himself on his stomach
and smack himself violently on
the hinder parts. Nearly every-
where the salutation of the
women differs from that of the
men and is generally confined
to kneeling down with the back
held erectly whilst the hands are
placed over the knees. In excep-
tional circumstances, however,
the women will positively wallow
at the man's feet and endeavour
to place his foot on their necks.
This also is a posture occasion-
ally assumed by suppliants of
the other sex or by prisoners
abjectly entreating for pardon.
From this gesture arises the
well-known phrase indicative of
absolute submission, "To catch
the leg," the idea being that the
suppliant endeavours to seize the
leg of the great personage so
that he may place the foot on
his neck. In our various wars,
whenever the defeated chief has
sought for peace he has always sent in a message that he wishes to '* catch
the Queen's leg."
As regards physiognomy, the expression of the negro's face is somewhat
stolid and there is not nearly as much play of emotion in his features as there is
with the European. I am afraid the preponderant expression is a sulky one
though that arises more because the coarse heavy features express sulkiness
to our ideas than because the man intends to look sullen. In reality they are
almost always of cheerful disposition and even when all the surrounding
circumstances are most gloomy it is easy to provoke a laugh ; and as already
recorded, they laugh well ; and laughter lights up their faces to advantage
making them quite like a man and a brother. They will somewhat readily
shed tears either for pain or for sorrow. As regards psychology there are
A YAO WOMAN
4o8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
tribes from the very far interior — those about the Upper Luapula and the
Luangwa Valley — who really seem to be of slow and brutish understanding, as
a tribal characteristic, and there may also be exceptionally stupid individuals in
the cleverest tribes ; still, taken as a whole, I think it must be admitted that
the average negro of British Central Africa is not a bom fool. His mental
powers are not much developed by native training, but I am certain that
he has in him possibilities in the present generation as great as those of
the average Indian ; and there is really no saying what he may come to
after several generations of education. I think it is truly remarkable the way
in which a little savage boy can be put to school and taught to read in a
few months and subsequently become a skilful printer or telegraph clerk, or
even book-keeper. The little boys are much sharper and shrewder than the
grown-up male. When the youth arrives at puberty there is undoubtedly
the tendency towards an arrested development of the mind. At this critical
period many bright and shining examples fall off into disappointing nullity.
As might be imagined, the concentration of their thoughts on sexual inter-
course is answerable for this falling away.
This is the negro's great weakness. Nature has probably endowed him
with more than the usual genetic faculty. After all, to these people almost
without arts and sciences and the refined pleasures of the senses, the only
acute enjoyment offered them by nature is sexual intercourse. Yet the negro
is very rarely knowingly indecent or addicted to lubricity. In this land of
nudity which I have known for seven years, I do not remember once having
seen an indecent gesture on the part of either man or woman and only
very rarely (and that not amongst unspoilt savages) in the case of that most
shameless member of the community — the little boy. An exception must
be made to this statement where the native dances are concerned, and yet
here, also, the statement is really equally true, for although most tribes have
initiation ceremonies or dances which are indecent to our eyes since they
consist of very immodest gestures and actions, they can scarcely be called
wantonly indecent, because they almost constitute a religious ceremony and are
performed by the negroes with a certain amount of seriousness. These dances
are never thrust on the notice of the European ; it is with the greatest
reluctance that they can be brought to perform in his presence. Indeed in
many cases tribes will stoutly deny the existence of any such dances amongst
them, and as to their initiation ceremonies, I believe I am right in saying
that they have never yet been witnessed by a European, that is to say any
portion of them that may be indecent or coarse. Our only knowledge is
derived from the more or less trustworthy accounts of educated natives. So
far as I know, the only dance of a really indecent nature which is indigenous
to Central Africa and has not been introduced by low caste Europeans or
Arabs, is one which represented originally the act of coition, but it is so
altered to a stereotyped formula that its exact purport is not obvious until
explained somewhat shyly by the natives.^
* Nevertheless, it is reported to me that after these dances (especially where a large quantity of
native beer has been drunk) orgies of what are conventionally called a *' shameful" character ensue.
These, however, are seriously entered upon at certain seasons of the year just as they are at fairs in
Egypt, a custom which has been handed down from remote antiquity through different forms of religion
and under many different practices, but originating undoubtedly in the worship of the pha//us^ as a symbol
of creative power. It may safely be asserted that the negro race in Central Africa is much more truly modest,
is much more free from real vice than are most European nations. It is absurd to call misuse or irregularity
of sexual intercourse **vice." It- may be wrong, it may be inexpedient, it may conflict with the best
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 409
ETHNOLOGY
In regard to initiation ceremonies. These are more or less connected with
sexual matters and with the arrival at or approach to the age of puberty on the
part of the boy or girl. In certain characteristics they are common to the
greater part of Pagan Tropical Africa. Customs met with on the Gold Coast
may be recognised again in Nyasaland or among the Zulus. Yet although
agreeing upon certain general principles there is a considerable difference in
detail even amongst the tribes of British Central Africa. In some races, how-
ever, the tribe being constantly harried by slave raids or civil wars or other
disturbing conditions, initiation ceremonies, like other customs, may lapse and
almost disappear.^ It is said that the following customs are observed by the
Wa-yao in the initiation of boys : — Like most ceremonies it begins by a dance
which takes place in a clearing in the uninhabited woodland at or near the
place where the youths, under the direction of their preceptors (one or more
elderly men), have run up low shelters made of branches, bamboos and grass
thatch. The dance with intervals for eating and sleeping lasts perhaps three
days. It is said to be of a slightly obscene character. Usually towards
the end of the dance the old man who is to circumcise takes the boys aside one
by one; arrangements are then made for their circumcision and they are suddenly
told to look at a strange figure in the sky ; whilst their gaze is thus diverted the
act is smartly performed. "The boys cry a great deal," I was informed, but
a few days' rest in the grass hut and the application of certain astringent reme-
dies soon heal the wound. Much good advice is said to be given to the boys
by these elderly instructors, but there is also much loose talk and the boys
are thoroughly enlightened as to sexual relations. They are given (by their
guardian or sponsor,^ generally, who usually sees them through the ceremonies)
a new name and the appellation they have hitherto borne is absolutely discarded.
It must never be again used and to call a youth who has been initiated by the
name of his childhood is an unpardonable offence. Access to the place where
the initiatory ceremonies are taking place is strictly forbidden to all not
concerned therewith. The boys are armed (as on the Congo) with long sticks
and will mercilessly beat any stranger who invades the precincts. About a
month to six weeks usually elapse before the boys issue from their hiding-place
and return to their homes. Their mothers prepare food for them during their
seclusion and place it usually at the place where the public path divides from
the trodden track leading to the " lodge." There is no doubt that much good
interests of the community and require control and restriction ; but it is not a ** vice." And in this sense
the negro is very rarely vicious after he has attained to the age of puberty. He is only more or less
uxorious. (Here, again, to give a truthful picture it must be noted that the children are vicious, as
they are amongst most races of mankind, the boys outrageously so. A medical missionary who was
at work for some time on the west coast of Lake Nyasa gave me information concerning the depra\4ty
prevalent among the young boys in the Atonga tribe of a character not even to be expressed in obscure
Latin. These statements might be applied with almost equal exactitude to boys and youths in many other
parls of Africa as almost any missionary who thoroughly understands the native character would know.)
As regards the little girls over nearly the whole <3f British Central Africa chastity before puberty is
an unknown condition. (Except perhaps among the A-nyanja.) Before a girl is become a woman
(that is to say before she is able to conceive) it is a matter of absolute indifference what she does and
scarcely any girl remains a virgin after about five years of age. Even where betrothed at birth, as
is often the case, or at a few months old, she will go to the mmily of her future husband when she
is four or five years of age and although she will not formally cohabit with him till she has reached
the age of puberty, it constantly happens that she is deflowered by him long before that age is
attained.
* There are said to be no initiation ceremonies for the boys among the A-nyanja or Atonga.
' Often an uncle ; someone chosen at the birth of the child by the father.
4IO BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
advice is given to the boys during this initiation : they are warned against
selfishness specially, are instructed in the way to return polite answers to their
elders, in the traditions of the tribes, in their duties towards the community and
chief, and often in special subjects such as the augury of favourable conditions
of travel, methods of warfare, and religious beliefs connected with the worship
and propitiation of ancestral spirits.^
As to the initiation ceremonies ^ for the girls among the Wa-yao they are
stated to be as follows. When there are a number of girl children in a village
or collection of villages who have reached an age of from eight to eleven years
they are taken away to the bush by elderly women and are lodged there in
shelters of grass and branches much as I have described in regard to the boys.
The ceremony usually begins with the new moon and lasts for the lunar month.
One old woman presides over the other instructresses, who is called the " cook
of the initiation," and who receives a fee of about four yards of cloth for each
girl initiated. A huge amount of corn has been pounded and flour (utandi)
prepared beforehand ready to feed the girls during their seclusion. The
children are instructed in household duties, in their obligations to their future
husbands, in the principles of good behaviour (which includes injunctions
against loud-tongued quarrelling). The marriage question is thoroughly ex-
plained and warning is given that unfaithfulness to the marriage tie may result
in death at the hands of the husband. The girls' heads are shaved and they
are anointed with various " medicines " and rubbed with oil. Miniature house
roofs are made and each girl has to carry one on her head indicating that
she is the support of the home. Then follows (it is said) a forcible vagitue
dilatatio^ by mechanical means, an operation which the girls are enjoined to
bear bravely. At the same time they are told that it must be followed by
cohabitation with a man. This is regarded by the Yao as a necessity to render
the girl marriageable before the age of puberty. The girls and their mothers
believe that if after these initiation ceremonies nisi cum mare coitus fiet they
will die or at any rate will not bear children when eventually married. Pater
puellae virum robustum (saepe attamen senem) legit atque ei pecuniam dat ut
puellae virginitatem adimat. Hoc ante pubertatem fieri necesse, ne coitum
conceptib sequatur.
There are no such proceedings amongst the A-nyanja though Dr. Cross
hints that something of the kind may obtain among the Wankonde. The
A-nyanja, probably the Atonga and most of the other races west of
Lake Nyasa hold but simple initiation ceremonies among the girls — they
only take place after puberty is reached, and last for a day or so. The young
maidens proceed to a cleared place outside the village where they recline
upon dry grass. No man is allowed to approach this college of women and
the approaches thereto are carefully guarded by matrons, while other married
women proceed to the instruction of the girls not only in sexual matters
but in the management of the home and all other matters concerning the
woman's life and work.
Following on this initiation is a dance, of course — a dance in which both
sexes join. Men dress themselves up in masks and skins and romp with
the initiated girls rather roughly but with no immodesty, and after the dance
is over the girls are taken back to their homes by the matrons who are
careful to see that they behave themselves with propriety.
^ Under this last head but little instruction may be given now, as so many of the Yaos affect Muham-
madanism. ^ Unyago in Chi-yao. ' Aliquando clitoride simul ex^isa^.^
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 411
After it is known that a young married woman is with child another
ceremony takes place (this is nearly universal). A great feast is got up
for which immense quantities of food are prepared. The woman with child
sits outside her hut, and her head is anointed with castor oil. The chief
woman presiding over the ceremony then directs her assistants to shave
the patient's head. Nothing further is done that day except the continued
preparation of food for the coming feast. On the morrow the young woman
is anointed with oil and red-ochre and sits out again in front of her door
while a dance of matrons takes place before her which is said to be of an
indelicate character and at which songs of considerable coarseness are sung.
One of the women dancing has a large gourd tied under the waist cloth
to simulate advanced pregnancy and struts about in this "honourable"
condition. These ceremonies finish on the night of the second day by a
secret conclave inside the young woman's dwelling at which it is said her
husband is present and that much advice — some good, some silly, and some
immodest — is given by the assembled matrons to the young couple. The
woman who presides over these first- pregnancy customs is paid a fee of a
goat or a certain quantity of corn. Among most of the tribes when these
ceremonies are complete (part of their object being the ascertainment by the
matrons beyond a doubt that the young wife is pregnant) the husband will
cease to cohabit with his wife until the child is born and weaned.^ If he has
another wife he will take to her society ; if not he will strive to remain
chaste in the fear lest if he commit adultery his unborn child will die. Many
young husbands choose such a time to make a trading or
hunting journey or engage for service with Europeans. Once
removed, however, from the vicinity of the wife and village
they appear to hold but lightly the restrictions or incon-
tinence and act on the proverb "What the eye does not see
the heart does not grieve for."
Amongst the Awa-nkonde at the north end of Lake
Nyasa similar ceremonies are performed on the young girls
at puberty and on the wives after pregnancy. After the first
menstruation the girl is kept apart with a few companions of
her own sex in a darkened house. The floor is covered with
dry banana leaves, but no fire is allowed in the house, which
is named "The house of the Awasungu" ("maidens who
have hearts").
The following may be regarded as the general principles
on which marriage customs are based. (I will subsequently
note special customs of several tribes.) Marriage is usually
by purchase. Arrangements are often made long beforehand
by the youth or man or, on his behalf, by his " godfather," or
father, or patron (if he be a slave). It may be desired to
contract an alliance with a certain man of near relationship
or of influence, and the bargain may be commenced when
this man's wife is known to be with child, and before the
child is born, that is to say, the individual who wishes to get
married or whose matrimonial affairs are being arranged for him, makes an
offer for the betrothal of the as yet unborn infant should it prove to be a
^ In many tribes where monogamy among poor people is the common state the husband resumes
cohabitation soon after the child is bom.
YOUNG MUNKONDE GIRL
(One of the "Awasungu")
412 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
female, which arrangement, if concluded, holds good if the child turns out to
be of that sex. Or the betrothal may take place a few months after the
female child is born, or when she is a little girl. Of course there are many
instances when a young man will take a fancy to a young unmarried woman
without any such previous arrangement and will, through his surety or god-
father, apply for her hand in marriage. Whenever marriage is by an arrangement
in this manner a certain value is paid for the wife. It may be as small as
two dressed skins in Angoniland, or as high as several cows and. a large
quantity of trade goods in the case of a chiefs daughter or in wealthy cattle-
keeping tribes.
Then there is marriage by capture — one of the chief inducements to indulge
in war and slave raiding. When the Administration first began to get into
conflict with the slave traders and required an armed force to put them down,
from first to last thousands of natives must have offered to volunteer for service
on the understanding that they were to be allowed to carry off" the enemy's
women. Naturally they were not accepted on those terms, but even in the case
of our unarmed porters we had the greatest difficulty in restraining them from
helping themselves to wives when marching with us into the enemy's country.
The women as a rule make no very great resistance on these occasions. It
is almost like playing a game. A woman is surprised as she goes to get water
at the stream, or when she is on her way to or from the plantation. The man
has only got to show her she is cornered and that escape is not easy or pleasant
and she submits to be carried off*. Of course there are cases where the woman
takes the first opportunity of running back to her first husband if her captor
treats her badly, and again she may be really attached to her first husband and
make every effort to return to him for that reason. But as a general rule they
seem to accept very cheerfully these abrupt changes in their matrimonial
existence.^
Concubinage represents another form of marriage. The man may purchase
one or more female slaves and it is always assumed that all the women folk
of his household are his wives. In like manner a free woman, especially if she
be a chieftainess, or daughter of a chief, may for motives of policy make no
regular marriage but take a male slave to live with her. Polygamy is, of course,
very general though at the same time poor men often confine themselves to one
wife. Adultery is extremely common and in very few parts of British Central
Africa is looked upon as a very serious matter, as a wrong which cannot
be compensated by a small payment. Yet in a way the natives are jealous
of their women ; they are not at all anxious to encourage intercourse between
their wives and white men,* though they seem to be much more jealous about
the white man than their brother negro. As a general rule it may be said that
illicit intercourse with women on the part of Europeans causes great dissatisfac-
tion in the native mind and invariably gives rise to acts of revenge on their
part and even to serious risings. On the other hand if the European tries
to obtain a wife in a legitimate manner by negotiation and purchase they are
not at all unwilling to treat and no ill humour whatever results from his inter-
marrying with them. In their eyes it is simply a matter of justice. They
regard it with the same amount of emotion as they would the stealing of their
^ The Rev. DufF Macdonald, a competent authority on Yao manners and customs, says in his
hook Africana: **I was told . . . that a native man would not pass a solitary woman and that her
refusal of him would be so contrary to custom that he might kill her. Of course this would apply only
to females that are not engaged."
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 413
fowls or com in lieu of buying them, even though the price charged for them
is very small.
Polyandry, or the possession of more than one husband at once is very
uncommon amongst the women. However ready some of them are to dissolve
the marriage tie they are generally faithful to one husband at a time. Indeed
I should say their tendency was to be chaste and virtuous after marriage and
not to willingly depart from the one husband unless he shows indifference
or cruelty.
Marriage by purchase or arrangement is conducted as follows amongst the
Yao : The suitor if he be of age or the suitor's godfather^ if he be a boy
hears that a girl-child is born to a man with whom a marriage connection
is desired. Or a child nearer the marriageable age is being solicited. The
young man wishing to marry or the godfather on behalf of a boy not yet
betrothed seeks out the guardian or godfather of the girl and proposes the
match. The godfather refers him to the girl-child's mother. If he be the first
applicant and bring a nice present consent is almost always given. Then the
two are betrothed, the boy or man gives another present, and henceforth keeps
the girl supplied with cloth to wear until the marriage. The public intimation
of the betrothal being complete is the acceptance and wearing of this cloth.
A betrothed girl often cooks food for her future spouse. It is rare for
children thus growing up together to fail to marry or to dislike one another.
Sometimes however a young girl betrothed while very young to a grown man
may refuse to carry out the bargain when she attains marriageable age and
if she has taken a dislike to her proposed husband.
Amongst the Atonga on the west coast of Nyasa the following are the
customs observed in regard to marriage. A youth or man who wishes to marry
pays about eight yards of cloth to the aunt (mother's sister) of the girl
he fancies. If this gift is accepted the prospective husband proceeds to build
a house close to that of the man who will become his father-in-law. Whilst
the house is building he sends a present equivalent to about four yards of cloth
to the girl's mother. (It would appear as if amongst the Atonga cases of
a girl being betrothed very young are less common than elsewhere, and that the
majority of marriages are only arranged when the boy and girl are approaching
or have passed puberty.)
When the day for the marriage is come a number of young girls who are
friends of the bride take possession of her, put cloth over her face as a veil and
deposit her in the bridegroom's house. The husband is awaiting her inside the
house. She stops at the threshold and will not cross it until the bridegroom
has given her a hoe. She then puts one leg over the lintel of the doorway and
the husband hands her two yards of cloth. Then the bride places both her feet
within the house and stands near the doorway. Upon doing so she receives
a present of beads or some equivalent. She then advances to the middle
of the hut and there receives four yards of cloth. All the bridesmaids except
one accompany her thus far but remain at her back. One of them goes in
front. Then the bride sits on the bed and the bridesmaids leave. The husband,
after their departure, places a lot of beads on the mat at the bride's feet. After
this he removes her clothing and leaves her naked save for a bead girdle which
she may probably wear, but whilst stripping her he gives her a present of eight
* I can only use this word to express the individual (of the male sex) who after the birth of the child
is appointed its guardian by the parents. The father's brother (uncle) is usually chosen for this position,
and henceforth transacts all business for his male or female godchild.
414
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
yards of cloth which is put aside with the accumulation of the other presents.
They then sleep together, but usually not on the bed but on a mat placed before
the fire burning in the centre of the hut. The next morning the bridesmaids
return. They affect to gaze round about the bed and exclaim upon seeing the
mass of beads poured out on the mat, "You have a generous husband." If,
however, an ample supply of beads has not been exhibited in this fashion the
bridesmaids sneer and utter
contemptuous remarks, the
more genuine in feeling
because these beads thrown
on to the mat are supposed
to be their perquisites and
are taken away by them.
Soon after the bridesmaids
have gone the father of the
newly-wedded wife pays an
early visit to the husband's
father and invites him to a
friendly talk. Much native
beer is made and drunk.
The "big women" (matrons
of the village) then go to
the bride*s home and re-
move her head veil of cloth.
All the husband's brothers,
if he has any, give presents
to the bride. The bride's
father catches two fowls,
male and female, and
should give the hen to the
bridegroom's father to keep,
saying, " You have got my
daughter, I have got your
son " ; but if for any reason
the bride's father is dis-
satisfied with his son-in-law
he gives the male bird to
the groom's father as a
sign that he returns the
son and will not have him
as a son-in-law. If the
is given, however, the marriage is considered to have been satisfactorily
A MTONGA MAN
hen
settled and the father calls his daughter to him and lectures her on her duties
as a married woman. On the second night of the marriage nupta parvum
pannum inter clunes celat, quo post coitum semen a vulva detergit, ut postridie
matronis pagi ostendat. Illae semine inspecto utrum ex mare valido emissus
sit pronuntiant. Quodsi aliter decernunt, nupta patrem suam docet, qui quum
ad mariti patiem accessit, dicit : " Mi amice, filius tuus non ad generandum
idmeus est : lege alium ex filiis tuis filiae meai conjugem."
Amongst the Atonga the wife does not leave her husband directly she is
enceinte^ but perhaps at the sixth month. The husband does not resume
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 415
relations with his wife until five or six months after the birth of the child. If in
this interval of some nine months he has connection with any other woman the
popular belief is that his wife will certainly die. The Atonga widower seldom
remarries until five months after the death of his wife.
Amongst the Wankonde at the north end of Lake Nyasa men seldom marry
out of their own tribe but avoid marriage between cousins. Polygamy is
prevalent among them. As one amongst many reasons given for polygamy
it is stated that as a man cannot cohabit with his wife during the menstrual
period or during pregnancy, he must have more than one wife, as once married
he cannot exercise self-restraint.
When desirous of marrying a girl the young Munkonde approaches her
parents through a comrade or friends. If the parents are willing to treat of
marriage, and the girl herself consents, the young man gives the father or
guardian a present of one or more cows ^ (some tribes give goats, hides, cloth,^
&c.). Then the parents on both sides meet and agree to the union. They
deny that this is purchase : it is merely a token of good will and good faith.
Should the married persons quarrel in after days and the young woman run
away to her father's house her husband can demand the return of the goods.
Contrary to the custom that prevails in the greater part of Southern
Nyasaland, where the husband invariably goes away to live with the people of
his wife, among the Wankonde the husband takes his bride to his own village,
though Dr. Cross has heard of cases where this custom has been reversed.
Among the Wankonde a man s widow usually becomes the wife of the next
brother. The Wankonde have that curious custom by which a man is practically
forbidden to speak to or even look at his mother-in-law. This also obtains
amongst the A-nyanja to some extent ; yet here the son-in-law has to. hoe his
mother-in-law s garden and assist her in many other ways. The Rev. D. C. R.
Scott states, " The children endeavour to heal the breach between their father
and his mother-in-law (their grandmother)."
Apparently the A-nyanja are less " emancipated " than the other tribes of
British Central Africa. Among th^ A-nyanja if a man commit adultery during
the pregnancy of his wife and the wife or child should die in the delivery, the
wife's people gather together and demand compensation, sometimes asking for
the sister of the husband. Amongst the A-nyanja also the custom prevails
that if a man be caught in adultery he is obliged to get another man as a
substitute to cohabit with his wife before he can return to her, and he must pay
his substitute for this service four yards of cloth or an equivalent present, or
else the substitute can claim and carry away the wife.
The marriage customs amongst the A-mambwe and A-lungu of Lake Tan-
ganyika and the Tanganyika plateau are very similar to the Wankonde. Those
of the Angoni resemble the customs amongst the Zulus of South Africa.
Among the Aba-bisa, the A-senga, and the Awemba, and, indeed, most of the
tribes between Nyasa and the Luapula River, there are similar customs to the
rites which prevail amongst the Atonga ; but those of the A-lunda (a people
dwelling on the south shore of Lake Mweru and the banks of the Luapula
River) present, as might be expected, features more similar to the marriage
customs of West Central Africa and Angola, since the A-lunda came from
that direction.
' In the case of a chief's daughter fifteen to twenty head of cattle may be the present given.
' Mr. Yule states that in some of the poorer Wankonde tribes the usual gift is three hoes, two brass
waist-rings, and a few yards of cloth.
4i6
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The Wankonde express great horror at the idea of cousins marrying. The
Yao on the other hand marry their cousins frequently.
As regards the customs relating to parturition and to the treatment of the
newly-born child, there is probably not much difference between the various
tribes, and what is reported of one set of people might be found to exist in
another upon closer observation. The Rev. Duff" Macdonald, in his interesting
book on the Yao customs,^ makes a statement which appears difficult of belief
were it not that so many of his remarks are found to be perfectly accurate. He
writes that Yao women " when the time of the child's birth draws near do not
stay in the house or even in the village. Accompanied by one or two female
friends the woman who is about to become a mother goes forth to seek the
retirement of the great forest." He goes on to state somewhat ambiguously
that she remains in the bush until delivery has taken place and that if any com-
plications ensue a native doctor is applied to who sends medicine to drink.
After the birth of the child one of the female friends of the mother carries it
back to the village, the latter accompanying it on foot. I confess that I have
not been able to find confirmation of this statement in my own notes respecting
the Yao. Perhaps I took it too much as a matter of course that the woman
was delivered in a hut, but the tenour of the answers I received from Wa-yao
as to their customs would certainly show that in most cases the woman awaits
the child's birth in the shelter of a house,
usually her own hut. It is so certainly
amongst the A-nyanja, the Atonga, the
Wankonde, and tribes of the Nyasa-
Tanganyika plateau.
The Atonga inform me that in their
country the child's navel string is not
severed for two days after birth, and that
the mother during that period carries the
child about with the navel string unsevered.
On the third day the mother anoints it
with the bitter juice of a fruit called
" Mutura." This dries up the string and
it breaks off* without harm to the child.
According to the Rev. D. C. Ruffele-Scott
in the notes on native customs published
in his Maflanja dictionary the parturient
woman remains for eight days in her
house after the child's birth. It would
seem amongst all the tribes that after the
birth has taken place the child's head is
shaved and the mother's hair is either cut
off" around the forehead or the whole of
her head is shaved likewise.^ The child
also is usually well oiled. Mr. J. B. Yule
informs me that amongst the A-mambwe
on the Nyasa - Tanganyika plateau the
afterbirth is carefully buried under the
floor of the mother's hut. He also states that if the firstborn child of a
woman be a boy it is rarely allowed to live and, further, that if the girl cuts
' Africana, vol. i. * Shaving the head accompanies most ceremonies ; the hair is always careiiilly buried.
•'A GOOD MOTHER '
(Sketch of a Mnyanja woman)
NATIVES OF BRITISH. CENTRAL AFRICA
the first two upper incisors before the lower teeth make their appearanceTtfie
child is usually strangled and thrown into a stagnant pool. Amongst the
Mambwe, if a child is prematurely bom it is cut into five pieces (two legs,
two arms and trunk) and is then buried under the floor of the mother's hut.
Mr. Yule states that these customs also prevail amongst the nearly allied
A-lungu. Amongst the Atonga, when the child's navel string has been removed
the mother is thoroughly smartened up and walks round the village to receive
congratulations. Usually the husband and father of the child keeps carefully
aloof from his wife for some days before and after child-birth. Amongst the
A-nyanja the door of the house where the woman stays with her newly-born
child is always kept a little ajar. The woman usually remains therein for three
days after confinement, her woman friends or the old women of the village
staying with her, one at a time. These women generally remain till the child
is eight days old.
The Wankonde have these birth customs: The mother is secluded for a
lunar month after the birth of the child, and is regarded as unclean. Before
being readmitted into society she must go alone into a running stream, wash in
the water and anoint with oil. With this same people it is held that if the
children in a family die one after another in succession the father must kill
himself. " I have known of a case," writes Dr. Cross, " where when three
children died in succession this thing happened. I was told that the father in
such a case would hang himself, or would put his gun into his mouth and pull
the trigger with his toe." " The children of an adulterous intercourse are killed
in the Wankonde tribe. The people also practise the adoption of children
extensively, especially where couples are childless."
Children that are born deformed or defective are almost invariably killed.
Respect for the life of very young children is not great though of course
the mother from natural instincts is loth to lose her child. It was related
to me once of the head wife of some man that, being extremely angry with
one of the junior wives, and seemingly for good reason, she punished her
by taking her young baby and throwing it on the fire where it burned to death.
This fact was told to me to indicate that the woman in question was a person
of determined character but it did not seem to strike my native informant
that it was a particularly wicked or cruel thing to do. Yet children on the
whole are kindly treated if they are reared at all. They grow up much like
children do in all uncivilised countries — treated somewhat heedlessly but seldom
harshly. The mother will place a charm round her baby's neck, and in some
cases ornaments. As a rule the child that can walk is allowed to run about
naked and dirty so that it may not be bewitched; but babies in arms are
scrupulously washed and kept clean.
In spite of their desire to honour their husbands with offspring it is not
at all a rare thing for women to bring about abortion between the third
and fifth month, either to spite their husbands with whom they may have
quarrelled, or who have given them cause for jealousy, or because the child
is the result of illicit intercourse. Abortion is procured by drinking a decoction
of the bark of certain trees, or else by the insertion of a sharply pointed piece
of bamboo.
Amongst the A-nyanja and the Wa-yao, the child is usually named by one
of the women who attend the mother ; amongst the Atonga the father gives
the name. If the child is a son he receives the name of either his father
or grandfather, if it is a girl the name of the paternal or maternal grandmother.
27
41 8 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Native names almost invariably have some meaning ; that is to say, with the
exception of inherited names which have come down for many generations.
The name of nearly every individual is a living word of plain meaning.
The birth of twins is not ordinarily well received and in some tribes one
of the two children is killed. I have never heard of any case of triplets or
quadruplets ; and when I have told natives that such cases occurred in England
occasionally, they expressed the greatest horror.^
After the mother begins to go about again she usually takes part in a dance
which is attended by women only, if she has borne a child for the first time.
Children early enter upon the duties of life. Little girls soon begin to assist
their mothers in preparing food and in garden work. The little boys mind the
goats or the fowls or scare away the baboons from the crops, and when they
are seven or eight years old commence to follow their fathers on short journeys.
The little girls amuse themselves by dancing and singing, even playing with
monstrous dolls that are hardly to be recognised as imitations of the human
baby. Little boys, if they dwell near the river, play with toy canoes, or they
throw wooden spears and shoot with tiny bows and arrows. The initiation
ceremonies more or less attendant on puberty have been already described,
and it has been related how both girls and boys at that time change their
childish names for other appellations. In the case of the boys the names
are sometimes given by the persons who preside over the ceremonies or by
the headman or chief of the village from which the boys come ; or the
youths themselves may insist on choosing their own names.
The Rev. D. C. R. Scott writes in his dictionary : ** A person is supposed to
change so radically at puberty that the utterance of his first name is a ver>'
great insult. A boy called by this name will probably answer, * There is no
such person here.'" But even after puberty the names are changed with the
\ greatest facility. Persons who are very great friends may interchange names»
\ or a man may go on a journey and prefer to call himself by a new appellation,
• on his return, which refers to some important event which has occurred in his
travels.^
The age of puberty amongst the girls is usually eleven years : with the boys,
twelve to fourteen ; but neither sex attains its full maturity till about sixteen
years in the woman and twenty years in the man. The beard and moustache
in men make their appearance relatively late, not beginning to show much
before twenty-four or twenty-five years of age.
Neither boys nor girls wear clothing (unless they are the children of chiefs)
until nearing the age of puberty. Amongst the Wankonde, except in such few
of those people as have come under European influence, practically no covering
is worn by the men except a ring of brass wire round the stomach. It is the
custom now, however, amongst the Wankonde men who frequent trading or
mission stations to suspend a piece of cloth from this brass girdle or if there is
^ A curious custom obtains amongst the Wankonde if twins are born. Both parents are put into
a grass hut in a secluded part of the village and there they abide for one month. No villager can see
the face of the secluded persons. The father hides himself lest his enemies should kill him.
The Atonga consider the birth of twins a most unlucky circumstance, and although they will not
admit it I think that one of the twins is very frequently killed. The belief on their part is that if
both live then both will suffer double, for the tie between them is so strong that even although separated
by distance each will feel the other's pain in addition to his own sicknesses and hurts. On the other
hand the Anyanja and the Yao do not seem to care very much one way or the other whether twins
are bom.
2 Names are most changeable amongst these n^^oes. Sometimes for mere caprice they will say, " 1
intend to call myself so-and-so," and henceforth the new name out of politeness is scrupulously remembered.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 419
no cloth at hand a small leafy branch or a folded banana leaf The Wankonde
women are likewise almost entirely nude, but generally cover the pudenda with
a tiny beadwork apron, often a piece of very beautiful workmanship and exactly
resembling the same article worn by Kaffir women. A like degree of nudity
prevails amongst many of the Awemba, amongst the A-lungu, the Batumbuka
and the Angoni. Most of the Angoni men, however, adopt the Zulu fashion of
covering the glans penis with a small wooden case or the outer shell of a fruit.
The Angoni — especially those who are not of Zulu extraction, but merely of the
widespread A-nyanja race — usually wear a small piece of leather or a kilt made
of animals' tails or of serval-skin, in place of or in addition to any special
covering of the male organ. The Wa-yao have a strong sense of decency in
matters of this kind, which is the more curious since they are more given to
obscenity in their rites, ceremonies and dances than any other tribe. Not only
is it extremely rare to see any Yao uncovered but both men and women have
the strongest dislike to exposing their persons even to the inspection of a
doctor. The Yao men now almost universally wear cloth round their waists
extending to the knee — this as an ordinary covering, though in time of war or
when they are out hunting they will tuck the cloth up between their legs in a
compact way. Before the European introduced cloth, however, or the Yao
caravans brought back quantities of it from the coast, these people, like most
others in South Central Africa, wore bark cloth,^ but except amongst the
remoter valleys of Yao-land, or amongst the A-nyanja who are far removed
from Lake Nyasa, or the still more barbarous people of the Lubisa country or
the banks of the Luapula River, cloth — chiefly European calico or a native
towel-like manufacture — is now worn. In Angoniland and on the Nyasa-Tangan-
yika plateau and in parts of West Nyasaland a good deal of weaving is carried
on and the native cloth thus made is substantial and somewhat ornamental,
though its web is many times coarser than the finely, woven cotton cloths of
European civilisation. Formerly skins were much worn as cloaks or coverings
to keep off the cold, but they too like the bark cloth are fast disappearing.
The Atonga and many of the A-nyanja people, and all the tribes west of
Nyasa (with the exception possibly of the A-lunda) have not the Yao regard
for decency, and, although they can seldom or ever be accused of a deliberate
intention to expose themselves, the men are relatively indifferent as to whether
their nakedness is or is not concealed, though the women are modest and careful
in this respect. The chiefs and men of any importance amongst the Yao,
especially in the vicinity of Lake Nyasa, often adopt an Arab costume, wearing
a long kanzu^ or white shirt nearly down to the heels, a piece of cloth wound
round the head for a turban, a shawl over the shoulders, and so on. There is a
great desire amongst the A-nyanja to dress like Europeans if they can afford it.
The Makololo chiefs, for instance, on the Central and Lower Shire, dress more
or less in European style except when in the intimacy of their homes. The
Atonga have a great leaning for European clothes. One of the most remarkable
specimens of this intelligent race that I have known — Bandawe, alias Maferano,-
who has risen to a high position in our native army, who is able to read and
write, and even, I believe, to play the harmonium, had a passion for accumulating
suits of European clothes of every description. When serving a planter as
interpreter some years ago, he asked, as part payment of his wages, for a disused
dress suit and tall silk hat. These garments he used to don on Sundays to our
* They strip the bark off the tree, soak it in water and beat it out with wooden hammers.
' His original native name, which means "a mortal conflict."
420
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
A YAO OF ZOMBA
inextinguishable merriment. Finding himself too much laughed at he made
over the clothes, as a very special honour, to his head wife who is quite a heroine
in her way. This woman used at one time to accompany him on most of our
campaigns, even insisting on going into battle, till one day she was wounded
and this procedure was discovered and immediately put a stop to. It was found
out in this way. When going into action at Kawinga's one of the officers of the
Indian contingent noticed a strange being charging in line jvith the Sikhs. It
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 421
was a black person dressed in ludicrous caricature of a "masher" in a very tight-
fitting evening suit and tall hat. The masher, however, was knocked down by
a spent bullet (fortunately not much hurt) and upon being picked up was found
to be Bandawe's wife thus strangely habited.
Amongst the still untamed savages of Angoniland and elsewhere to the
north and west of Lake Nyasa many strange additions to their costume are
worn by the men upon going
to war. The Angoni gene-
rally tie a piece of red cloth
round the waist and don a
huge kilt of animals* tails or
of dressed cat skins. On the
head they will place either a
circlet made of zebra mane
or a huge headdress of black
cock's feathers. White frills
are worn round the ankles,
made of the long white hair
of the Colobus monkey or,
failing that, of goat's hair.
The fighting men of the
Awemba or of other tribes
between Nyasa and Tangan-
yika are fond of wearing as
a headdress the head and
beak of a large hombill. The
illustration which is given here
of a " Ruga-ruga " illustrates
this, and it also shows other
features of the war dress
mainly derived from the Wan-
yamwezi people to the north.
The coils of rope which this
drawing represents, are theo-
retically intended for binding
the Ruga-ruga's captives. In
the countries west of Lake
Nyasa and on Tanganyika
(I believe also in the Makua
countries to the east) wooden
masks are more or less
worn either during certain dances or as part of the war dress.
Most tribes anoint the hair with oil, generally castor oil, but some use the fat
of animals. The Awa-bundali, a tribe of the Wankonde group, comb out their
wool, plait it, weave into it strips of bark and loop these plaits back over the
ears like " bandeaux," tying the plaits at the back of the head. Many tribes
not only among the Wankonde but of A-nyanja, A-lolo, Ba-bisa, Awemba
stock, endeavour to lengthen their hair by plaiting into it black thread or the
hair of animals, or other substances which may appear to lengthen it. The
Angoni, where they do not adopt the Zulu fashion among the married men
of wearing a head-ring (made round the head with plastered hair), train their
A ** ruga-ruga'
422 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
hair into long wisps which they tie up with grass or straw. It is the fashion
amongst some tribes — especially to the south-east of Nyasaland and on the
Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau — to wear wigs made of plaited thread. Into these
wigs cowry shells are sometimes threaded.
The tribes on the south of Tanganyika occasionally make a headdress
of black goat skin the hair of which hangs down over the forehead, simulating
the appearance of a long-haired race. Other people, again, manage to attach
false hair or imitation hair to their own wool and give themselves the appear-
ance of a fine mop of long hair. Bracelets, necklets, anklets, and similar
ornaments are almost universally worn. Some bracelets are made of elephant's
hide ; others of ivory — a section of a tusk being pierced with a hole large
enough for the passage of the hand ; others of plaited grass or of brass
wire or iron.
The Angoni men will generally have a string on which a charm is
carried, some object supposed to preserve the wearer from harm, or to give
him especial good fortune. Or they may be necklaces of the black seeds of
the wild banana (Musa ensete) or various other and larger seeds, or sections
of shells, or animals* teeth, or the glass beads of commerce. The women
will frequently wear huge collars which are one mass of beads or long ropes
of beads often very tastefully formed. A girdle of beads is usuall}^ worn
amongst the women who seldom remove it after it has once been put on.
Both men and women will wear anklets of much the same material as their
bracelets. Women are especially fond of thick brass or copper rings round
the ankles. Some of the wives of the Yao chiefs wear heavy silver anklets
of Indian manufacture brought from the coast.
The tribes to the west and north of Lake Nyasa sometimes use sandals
when on a journey. As a rule, however, the people of these countries go
about barefooted always, even though the soles of their feet may be terribly
scorched during journeys in hot weather when the sun at times makes the
path hot enough to burn the skin. I have sometimes noticed the Yao wearing
sandals roughly made of a piece of hide.
As regards adornments of the person which consist in marking or decorating
the skin : — Not many of the tribes go in for tatooing on the scale to which it
is developed in the Pacific, though most of them have a tribal mark. In some
the skin is ornamented with raised weals and lumps made by incisions into
which some irritating substance (usually charcoal) is rubbed, which causes the
flesh to heal with a raised bluish cicatrice. To the east of the British Central
Africa Protectorate amongst the Makua and the Alomwe, hideous scars are
thus raised on the forehead. These are sometimes of indigo blue and probably
some other colouring matter than mere charcoal has been inserted. The people
in the countries between Lake Nyasa and the Luapula — both men arid women
— cover their bodies with cicatrices arranged in various patterns.
Amongst the Yao tatooing is usually limited to a kind of rosette, or round
mark on the temples and three or four longitudinal marks on the forehead,
just above the nasal bone.
The A-nyanja tatoo on the forehead and they also, especially to the west of
Lake Nyasa, practise cicatrisation. Ordinary tatooing is done by making
punctures or cuts in the skin and afterwards rubbing in charcoal. In cicatri-
sation cuts are repeatedly made in the same place until they heal with a
swollen blob of flesh which remains as a raised lump. If charcoal is rubbed
into this in the process of healing, these raised lumps are blue in colour.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 423
SPECIMENS OF TATOOING
Lines drawn on the breast and stomach of the
Wankonde.
St. Andrew's Cross, drawn across the back by
the Awemba.
The Wankonde tatoo extensively about the age of puberty. They make
small incisions with a pair of pincers and a knife and rub in wood ashes or
charcoal. The Wankonde cut marks like those given in the accompanying
illustration over the breast, above the
mammae, in both sexes. Some tatoo
over the abdomen, others over the
hypogastrium, where they make a series
of long lines, which are wonderfully
straight.
The Awemba make large St.
Andrew*s crosses on the back, reaching
from the top of the blade-bone on either
side to the point of the hip on the
opposite side. As a rule, both sexes are
tatooed, and the tatoo marks certainly
serve both among the A-nyanja, the
Wa-yao, and the Wankonde to dis-
tinguish tribe from tribe.
The Angoni and some of the A-lungu
and Awemba puncture the lobe of the
ear and insert a quill. The quill is
presently changed for a thicker wad of
bone until at last the hole has been so
far widened as to admit an article the
size of an ordinary cotton reel, and the
ear often hangs down a considerable distance, though this deformity is not
pushed to the extremes I have observed in parts of East Africa. Many of
the Yao women insert a small piece of
bone, or ivory, or metal through the wing
of the nose. Probably this custom has
been borrowed from the coast. In the
wives of big chiefs under Muhammadan
influence a little silver ornament replaces
the ordinary wad which is thrust through
the outside of one nostril. The most
hideous deformity of all is the celebrated
pelele. This is a round, hollow disc of
t wood, or bone, or metal, which is worn
in the upper lip. The upper lip is pierced
first of all, and the aperture is gradually
widened, first by the insertion of a quill
or a long, round acacia thorn (with the
point removed) or a grass-stem ; then of
some article of greater size, such as a ring
of bone or stone or wood, and so on until
the pelele, a ring one inch to one inch
and a half in diameter, can be thrust into
this hole in the upper lip. Nothing could
r7\ ^^ 2 ' ^ more ugly. The pelele makes the
W|4 ^' various'^phigs, for insertion in woman's Hp project Until it looks like a
W ;h:t':trir(hari;ufeer buck's bin. it must incommode her very
EXAMPLE OF PELBLE
IN UPPER UP
424 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
much in eating and drinking. Yet it is a fashion not only prevalent amongst
all the A-nyanja, but to some extent amongst the Yao, though in this case I
think it can only be where the Yao woman is really of A-nyanja origin.
It is a custom not peculiar to British Central Africa, but
may be met with in widely removed parts of the continent.
There are few tribes within the limits of the country
under description which deliberately knock out any of the
front teeth as is so much the custom with the people dwelling
on the Upper Zambezi and within the watershed of the
Kafue river ; but I learn that this practice prevails in some
tribes of North- West Nyasaland where the two middle lower
incisors are knocked out at puberty, and that the A-nyika of
the same district chip the upper incisors by means of an
axe. The A-lolo to the south-east of Nyasaland file their teeth into sharp
points. This is also done sometimes amongst the Awemba Babisa, and tribes
on the Upper Luapula.
Not even the slave trade devastations and the continual warfare between
tribe and tribe for the past two hundred years have succeeded in destroying
agriculture amongst the British Central African negroes : though it must be
admitted that many tribes have degenerated in the exercise of this industry
through their harried existence. Those among whom agricultural skill is best
preserved are the Wankonde of North Nyasa (a tribe which until
the recent invasion of the Arabs had enjoyed centuries of un-
disturbed peace) and the A-nyanja of South- West Nyasaland.
As a rule, native agriculture is conducted on a heedless
system, ruinous to the future interests of the country. A negro
household wishes to start a new plantation. The husband sallies another example
out and selects a piece of land in the wilderness, generally well ^^ ^"^ reuELE
forested and therefore offering indications of fertile soil. Having chosen his
** estate" he lets other people know it by gathering tufts of grass and tying
them round the trees, so that passers-by may know that the land has been
"betrothed" (that is often the term used). Then he cuts the trees down
(leaving stumps in the ground) over the area intended for cultivation and often
in addition pollards those standing round the boundaries of the field. The
trunks and branches are left to dry during the rainless season of the year.
At the close of the dry season they are burnt and their ashes are dug into
the soil which at this time is carefully hoed up and turned over, all weeds being
cut down, burnt, and buried. By the beginning of the wet season the land
is ready for sowing with a crop of maize or sorghum. When the com comes
up, the plants are carefully thinned and those left are often earthed up and are
separated one from the other by a space of (say) three feet Sometimes
pumpkins are planted in the furrows, in between the raised mounds from which
the cereals grow.
Beyond the burning of the hewn trees and the weeds no attempt is made to
manure the soil which, being virgin, yields a very large crop and is then greatly
exhausted. The next year the native cultivator abandons the plantation of the
year before and prepares another section of forest-land for corn-growing by
felling and burning the trees. The result of this procedure is naturally the
gradual disforesting of South Central Africa. Only in small areas near a river
or lake, which in the wet season are marshes or at that time of the year
are under water and enriched by the deposit of alluvial soil, does the negro
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 425
plant crops annually in the same locality. With rare exceptions he has no idea
of manuring the ground and so continuing to cultivate the same piece of land
for ever, as would be the case in Europe and in most parts of Asia. Imagine
what would be the result in other continents more populated than Africa if year
by year each family required to transfer their cultivation to a different piece of
ground. What a contrast to Africa is India, a mere peninsula of Asia with
its teeming population three times larger than the total population of Africa^
and yet for generations subsisting in the same continually cultivated soil
whereon their forefathers dwelt before them ! One of the great lessons we have
A \mtsc woadvn boe.
WoutkEi btt miller, for beating out
to teach the Central African negro is fixity of tenure, the need of settling
permanently on one piece of land, and, by careful manuring, the constant raising
of crops from within a certain definite area. The keeping of cattle, pigs, goats,
and sheep will assist in manuring the soil.
The Wankonde are somewhat more careful in their cultivation than the
other negroes of this territory. They carefully return all weeds, wood-ashes,
and village refuse into the soil, while the grass and weeds growing on the fallow
land are cut down and burnt in heaps ; or else they are laid out on the surface
of the soil in long rows, the soil on either side of these layers of cut herbage is
dug into trenches or furrow, and what is taken out is thrown on the top of the
weeds. These then decay underneath and enrich the soil of these raised beds.
426 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The principal, almost the only, agricultural implement known is the hoe. A
sickle may be used for cutting grass, and a wooden rake may possibly be
employed in very tidy and prosperous communities for smoothing the seed
beds ; but the hoe fulfils nearly all the purposes of plough (the plough is quite
unknown), harrow, spade, pick, fork, and drill. Nowadays the hoes are chiefly
made of iron, but in some of the wilder, remoter, more mountainous tracts long
hoes are made of hard wood. In Tropical Africa one is inclined to believe that
an age of wood was either antecedent to or parallel with an age of stone, and
certainly preceded the age of copper and iron. Not a few native weapons and
implements of iron at the present day still have their wooden prototypes
lingering alongside. Some ceremony is always observed by the natives at the
commencement of the hoeing season, and often at or after harvest. The
household fire is extinguished and relit by making fire afresh ; dances of
various kinds are indulged in.
The order of crops is usually this : — As soon as the first rains have fallen
and the ground is moist, pumpkins and maize are sown ; then gourds and
cucumbers, millet (Mchewere), sorghum (Mapira) and Eleusine (Maere); French
beans, large beans, small beans, peas, Dhol,^ ground nuts, cassava, sweet
potatoes and rice. The pumpkins ripen first ; then the maize, the cucumbers
and gourds. The millet, sorghum, Eleusine, and rice are not harvested till June
or July. Then follows much beer making (with the grain) and consequent
drunkenness. The maize is eaten green — raw, boiled or roasted — but the bulk
of it is saved till it ripens and it is then consumed in the form of " pop com "
or flour. In certain favoured localities maize is grown in rotation all the year
round. In the dry season it is planted in damp hollows, on river islands, and
on land by the river banks, which is thoroughly moist. Many other crops can
in this way be raised during the dry season and but for inherent laziness the
negro of British Central Africa need never be in want of perpetual supplies
of food.
The following are the cereals and plants grown for food or for other
purposes by the natives of this part of Africa. (In industrious or specially
favoured districts all these things may be grown ; but among a lazy people
or where the soil is poor and the water supply defective the list may be much
reduced.) : —
CEREALS.
Sorghum.2 (Latin : Sorghum vulgare. Common native name " Mapira.")
Maize. Introduced by the Portuguese into Zambezia circa 1570.
Rice. Introduced by Portuguese and Arabs. The inferior red rice comes
from the Zambezi ; the good white rice is of Arab introduction.
Millet. (Latin : Pennisetmn typhoideuni Native name in Chinyanja :
" Mchewere,") probably introduced by the Portuguese.
Eleusine. (Latin : Eleusine coracana.) Native name : ** Maere."
Wheat. Introduced by the Portuguese into the Zambezi Valley ; and by
the Europeans into Nyasaland and the Arabs to Tanganyika. Except
in the Zambezi Valley scarcely grown at all by the natives.
Of beans there are no less than nine kinds cultivated. One kind is the
Indian " Dhol " {Cajanus indicus), another is almost spherical, slightly flattened,
a dark brown with a white streak round the rim ; a third is very large —
^ Dhol is a small pease much grown in India.
* The Durrha of the Sudan. There are nearly nine varieties grown in British Central Africa,
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 427
somewhat like the "broad bean," a fourth and fifth are small and white, a
sixth and seventh are kinds of peas, an eighth is long and flat, and the ninth
is excellent eating, rather small but oblong and dark chocolate-brown. Probably
none of these beans is indigenous : they are all no doubt importations of ancient
or modern date from the Mediterranean or Asiatic countries. Some of the
smaller beans are eaten in the pod like " French beans."
There are two kinds of ground nut : the ordinary Arachis hypogcBa and the
large Voandzeia subterranea. The Cassava or Manioc of two or more kinds is
abundantly cultivated and is often made into flour. One form of Cassava has a
root which is. without any of the poisonous qualities so associated with this
Kuphorbiaceous plant and can be eaten raw without ill effects even by
Europeans. It has a pleasant nutty flavour and a creamy sap. The ordinary
Cassava is made into flour, but the Missionaries manufacture from it excellent
tapioca.
Sweet potatoes are cultivated nearly everywhere. They are palatable and
nutritious food. As is no doubt known to my readers the sweet potato is
the tuber of a Convolvulus. The common potato (Solatium tuberosum) has been
introduced by the Missionaries and thrives in the higher districts of the
Protectorate. The natives grow it for trade with the European and do not
much care to eat it themselves. The Tomato, a degenerate kind, grows
semi-wild round most of the villages. Tobacco is cultivated everywhere and
so is Hemp, The latter is smoked, the
former usually taken in the form of snuff".
The Sugar-cane is cultivated in the low-
lying regions near water: so is the Sac-
charine Sorghum, which like the sugar-cane
secretes a sweet juice. As regards culti-
vated CucurbitacecB there are about five or
six kinds of what we should call "pumpkins"
or "vegetable marrows." One of these is
like the American Squash with orange-red
pulp, another is as delicious as any custard
marrow grown at home. Of cucumbers
there are two or three kinds, all very short
and thick and one with large prickles on
the rind. There is a water-melon (Dzembe
or Liembe) and there are gourds, more
grown for their bottle- or gazogene- or
retort-shaped rinds (which make admirable
receptacles, pipes, drinking vessels and
bottles) than for their edible pulp. A
leaves and flowers of certain pumpkins.
universally cultivated. Small sweet bananas or red bananas are not common
and are of recent introduction, Arab or Portuguese. The papaw tree^ is
fairly abundant of course as a cultivated tree : it is not indigenous. The Lime
is met with in many villages but only those under English, Portuguese, or Arab
influence. The Orange is very rarely met with and such trees as there are
(except those on Mount Mlanje) are of young growth. The Castor oil plant
is (seemingly) indigenous, though one scarcely meets with it far from a native
settlement. It is grown for the oil, which is not used medicinally but chiefly
* Caric a papaya.
NORTH NYASA NATIVE
smoking hemp from a pipe made out of a
"gazogene-shaped gourd"
kind of spinach is made from the
The Plantain or large banana is
428
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
for anointing the body and occasionally for cooking. Oil derived from the
Sesamum plant is much used in cooking. The oil palm {ElcBis guine'ensis) is
semi-cultivated and grows wild in North -West Nyasaland, on the south coast
of Tanganyika and on the Luapula river. The husks of its nuts express the
rich " palm oil " of commerce which the natives of those few parts of British
Central Africa where the oil palm grows, use in their food and cooking similarly
to the West African negroes.
The roots of the Borassiis palm are sometimes eaten in seasons of scarcity.
The seeds of the Itch bean
{Mucund) are also roasted and
eaten when food crops are lack-
ing, and the grains of certain wild
grasses allied to the millet are
gathered and made into a poor
flour when other resources fail.
Several wild herbs furnish a kind
of spinach, which mixed with oil
and condiments is a favourite
relish to be eaten with the porridge
made of flour that forms the staple
of their existence. Red peppers
{capsicums) are one of the condi-
ments referred to. Though of re-
latively recent introduction, these
" chillies," both red and green, are
found growing in nearly every
native village.
Some fifteen species of edible
and nutritious fungi grow in
British Central Africa in the
rainy season and are much appre-
ciated by the natives. Many roots,
which I cannot identify, are de-
voured ; the "heart" is cut out of
certain palms (/>., that soft por-
tion containing the undeveloped
fronds) and is stewed and eaten.
The roots of Trapa naians, a
water weed, the flowers and roots
BANANA GROVE (MLANJE)
of the blue water-lily, the leaves of the Protea shrub, the gums of certain
acacias and of papilionaceous trees, the stalks and leaves of a bean [Crotalaria\
the seeds of certain Hibiscuses are also consumed by the natives in times of
scarcity. For fruits they have the " plums " of the Parinarium and of several
Diospyros trees and shrubs, the sweet "Masuku" {Uapaca kirkiana — a fruit
something like a medlar with orange-coloured honey-tasting pulp), sycomore
figs, wild dates, "bush oranges" (the fruit of several species of Strychnos\
custard apple (Anofia) and the bright crimson seed-vessels of the Amomums.
Many more seeds, roots, leaves and fruits than those I have enumerated are
cooked and eaten, and not always because of scarcity, but because they are
palatable. It is, however, truly remarkable — and here is a trait characteristic of
the entire negro race — that throughout the ages during which the black man
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 429
has inhabited Tropical Africa he has not, with one or two doubtful exceptions,
cultivated a single indigenous food plant or domesticated any wild beast or bird
of his own portion of the continent^
Of his cultivated plants : maize, manioc (cassava), sweet potato, common
potato, tobacco, tomato, " chilli " (red and green) pepper, pineapple, papaw, y
yams, reached him from America. Although these things are now spread right
across Africa in their cultivation they are natives of America and were in-
troduced from two to three centuries ago by the Portuguese.^ The sorghum
{Holcus, Durrha) grain, the millet, the eleusine, the colocasia (arum) yam, and
the banana, the oldest of his cultivated plants, are natives of the Mediterranean
basin, the Nile valley, or Tropical Asia, were first cultivated (on African soil)
by the Ancient Egyptians, and reached the negro by slow descent from Egypt
Sugar-cane, rice, wheat, oranges, limes, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, gourds,
onions, not improbably the castor oil plant, the Datura, hemp (from India) and
most peas and beans were first introduced by Arabs and were re-introduced by
the Portuguese. The coffee shrub, though indigenous 1q Airica,onlyi_was^ not .5? 7 7 ?
cultivntrri till thr i^rnbn Ahjn-iininni^Pnrtu^^nr^r nnd English took it in hand.~' ^ r * '''i
Ihecocoanut was introduced from Asia, the edible date palm Trom the Mediter-
ranean basin.^ The^ oil palm of West Africa and Nyasaland is not cultivated
— no trouble has been taken to improve it. The only doubtful exceptions
to this rule are. the ground nuts {Arackis and Voandseia) which may be
indigenous to Africa,* and certain semi-cultivated beans of the genera Tephrosia
and Crotalaria, which the native tolerates in his plantations rather than
deliberately cultivates. The Sesamum plant, the seeds of which produce such
a fine oil, is probably in its cultivated form an introduction from Egypt or
India. Indigo and possibly cotton are indigenous but what has the native
done to improve them by cultivation ?
I am not of course referring to the negroes of British South Africa or
Portuguese East and West Africa or those under French tutelage or Arab or
Abyssinian or Berber rule, or to the mixed races between negro and Arab,
Egyptian, Abyssinian, Libyan or Berber. I am dealing with the pure negro
uninfluenced and unmixed as you find him throughout Tropical Africa between
the Sahara and Cape Colony.
The Domestic animals of the Central African negro are the following : the
ox, sheep, goat, dog, cat, fowl, muscovy duck and pigeon. It is hardly correct
to include the pig, because pigs are only kept where they have been introduced
by Portuguese or British and are not popular as domestic animals. The cattle
are almost always of the Indian Zebu type, with the tendency to develop a
hump, a dewlap, and short thick horns. But the Angoni-Zulus on the plateaux,
west of Lake Nyasa, have a few cattle of the southern type which are recent
introductions from across the Zambezi. Though dwarfed in size they are like
Cape cattle, with long horns and straight backs and without dewlaps. Another
difference between these two breeds of cattle lies in the coloration. As a
rule, the long-horned variety is unicoloured, dun, chestnut, greyish -white,
"strawberry," or bluish-grey. The humped or short-horned kind is most
commonly black, or black and white, or grey, dun, chestnut and white ; nearly
^ I am referring of course to the pure-blooded negro, uninfluenced by the Semite or European.
* With the exception of the common potato which has been quite recently brought in by the English. '^
' Though several wild species of date grow abundantly in Tropical Africa no one of them has ever
been cultivated by the natives.
* Some think that these ground nuts came from America. Their cultivation in Tropical Africa ^
is very partial.
430 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
always parti-coloured, with white as one of the ingredients. Of course on the
borderland the two breeds occasionally intermix, forming types of mingled
characteristics. As a rule, the long-horned kind is large and the short-homed
small ; though through lack of attention in breeding and other causes of
degeneration the long-horned breed may become dwarfed while the short-horned
humped cattle under favourable circumstances may incresise in average size.
Sir John Kirk found a very small breed of (I think) humped cattle in the
Batoka Highlands (Central Zambezi) : the Angoni long-horned cattle west of
Lake Nyasa are small ; the humped cattle of North Nyasa and the Yao country
are large and handsome.
The same interruption in the distribution of the long-homed breed of
domestic cattle occurs in South -Central Africa which is characteristic of the
range of so mamy wild animals.
In much of the Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia, Galla-land, the Central Sudan,
Nigeria, and Senegambia the long-horned cattle predominate. They reappear
again in South- West Africa and in Africa south of the Zambezi, where they are
either the exclusive or the predominating race. On the other hand in East
Africa, Mozambique, British Central Africa, the Congo Basin, Angola, the
West Coast of Africa, and Lower Niger the humped short-horned cattle are
the only kind seen with rare exceptions.
The humped cattle found in British Central Africa originally entered that
country from the north and are the direct descendants of the domestic cattle
of the Ancient Egyptians which appear to have been derived from Asia. They
resemble very strongly the domestic cattle of India. Until our administration
of the country commenced, cattle were not widely kept by the natives of the
eastern part of British Central Africa, partly owing to the tsetse-fly and the
dread of attracting raiders. The following tribes and districts in 1891 possessed
domestic cattle : there were a few in the countries round Lake Bangweolo and
in the Lunda Kingdom near the south end of Lake Mweru, but very few, owning
to the tsetse-fly. The Awemba on the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau kept large
herds. Cattle to a less extent were present in the villages to the east of the
Tanganyika plateau and thence onwards to the Uhehe country. The Wankonde
people of North Nyasa were and are great cattle keepers and evidently had
been for untold generations. The Angoni and Achewa on the high plateaux
west of Lake Nyasa, and thence right away down to within the Zambezi Basin
were abundantly supplied with cattle. There were a few kept by the Arabs
at Kotakota and one herd by Mponda, the Yao chief in South Nyasa.
In the Shire Highlands a few head of cattle were to be seen at the villages
of the more important Yao chiefs, and in Yaoland proper (east of Lake Nyasa)
and on the whole eastern shore of the lake (among the Wayao, Anyanja and
Wangindo), wherever Yao or Zulu raiders permitted.
Nowadays, the Awemba of the Tanganyika plateau have lost most of their
cattle from the rinderpest, a disease which also decimated the Wankonde herds
but fortunately spared the rest of the Protectorate.^ On the other hand cattle-
keeping in Angoniland, on the Upper Shire and in the Shire Highlands has
greatly increased owing to the prevention of raids and the spread of prosperity.
Of course the Europeans now settled in the Shire province keep cattle to a
large extent.
With most of the tribes in British Central Africa the keeping of cattle
^ When it made its appearance in the north we put a rigid cordon on the entry of infected cattle till
the disease was over.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 431
is an accident, an appanage of chieftainship ; but with the Wankonde at the
north end of Lake Nyasa it is a matter of national existence. Their cattle
are supreme in the place they occupy in the life and habits of the people
Elsewhere in Central Africa though cattle may be kept and occasionally eaten^
they are not milked any more than are the goats. To most of these Central
African negroes it is disgusting to drink milk. But with the Wankonde milk
is an important article of diet. Milking is only performed by men : women
are not allowed to have anything to do with the cattle. Milk is not drunk
fresh but curdled. They wait till they can separate whey from curd ; the
former is drunk, the latter eaten by means of spoons made of leaves. The
WANKONDE CATTLE
urine of the cows is not thought unclean. Occasionally it is mixed with the
milk and drunk ; milk-pots are washed in it ; and the cowherds often wash
themselves in the cow's urine. After the birth of a calf it is said that the
herd wishing to ingratiate himself with the cow, wraps the placenta round him.
The cow will then follow him anywhere. Cattle certainly become extra-
ordinarily attached to their Wankonde herdsmen and these people are in
much request as cattle-tenders in the Shire province. Cow-dung is preserved,
chiefly for washing out and purifying the interiors of huts (mixed with water)
as an insectifuge ; also to bind plaster and mud on the walls and floors. It
is burnt to drive away mosquitoes, but is not used for manure except that
tobacco may be planted on a dung-heap.
The ears of Nkonde cattle are cropped and notched according to the owner\s
private mark. Many of the cows have wooden bells on the necks, and it is
432 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
delightful in the beautiful Nkonde and Bundale mountains to hear the tinkle-
tinkle which reminds one so of Switzerland. Cattle in this country (Nkonde)
are killed by pole-axeing, ordinarily; sometimes by running a spear into the
heart. Elsewhere in Nyasaland they are usually thrown and their throats are
cut, or they are shot and speared. Amongst the Wayao cattle are extremely
wild.
The Wankonde house their cattle in long rectangular buildings, well and
strongly built of stout poles. The Yao and Angoni usually drive their cattle at
night into unroofed kraals — enclosures with a very high, strong fence of young
trees placed closely together two or three deep. The approach to the fence is
also defended by thorn branches.
Amongst most of the tribes which possess guns, long powder-horns are used
made of the horns of oxen. These very long horns are said to come either from
the countries south of the Zambezi or from Madagascar (where the cattle are of
the long-homed breed), whence they are exported to the East Coast of Africa.
The domestic sheep of South-Central Africa is of the hairy kind : like the
sheep of Syria. Persia and India it develops no wool. Originally this hairy type
of domestic sheep was the fat-tailed variety found in Asia, North-East and
East Africa and South Africa. In Western and West-Central Africa the fat-
tailed sheep lost its fat tail which became a very thin appendage, and developed
instead of a dewlap in the male a long mane extending from the throat to the
chest. In British Central Africa the two breeds of fat-tailed and maned sheep
have mixed. Few or no examples are found with either a pronounced mane or
a very fat tail. A variety is occasionally met with which is of considerable size
and is tall on the legs. Many sheep are black and white (with black heads —
like Persian sheep) ; others are almost the colour of the mouflon or are grey,
white or yellow. The development of horns in the male is seldom large ; in the
female horns are often wanting. The mutton they provide for the table is
excellent y much superior to that of the Indian sheep.
But the little African goat is a universal favourite. In this country it and
not the dog \s "the friend of man," plump, sleek, tame, friendly, intelligent,
cheerful. The goat is found in all the villages even where no other domestic
animals are kept, and is much petted by the natives. Intellectually it differs
from the sheep as a cheery London boy from a heavy-minded rustic. The goat
in Africa is an optimist ; the sheep a melancholy baaing pessimist. The goat will
make himself comfortable under all circumstances, and quite identify himself
with the fortunes of his human companions ; the sheep will hasten its death by
loud lamentations, by bolting into the bush and being devoured by a leopard,
or by incontinently falling sick when worn out with lamentations on its sad lot
in life. The young and the female goats are good to eat— -the flesh of a young
kid being excellent ; but it is as milk -producers that the female goats are
so valuable and admirable. Their yield is not heavy but the quality is very
rich. Goats will accompany a caravan on the march and give no trouble ;
stopping when the men stop ; going on when the journey is resumed ; feeding
and chewing the cud in the intervals of rest and always ready and willing to be
milked. In 1889-90 a couple of goats travelled the whole way with me from
Mozambique to Tanganyika and back. To one who like myself cannot get on
without tea and coffee, cannot drink them without milk, yet loathes tinned milk
with all his soul, think what a comfort it must be to have a perambulating
supply of rich milk walking along with you, giving no trouble and feeding itself
as it goes. So great is the debt which all European explorers, pioneers.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 433
missionaries, planters, and settlers in Africa owe to the cheery little African
goat that I have often thought a gold medal should be subscribed for and
at some public festival be hung round the neck of a representative clear-eyed,
spruce, clean, plump and friendly nanny-goat in token of all we owe to her kind
for solace in sickness and comfort in health.
The African goat is usually small, short on the legs, very plump, with erect ears,
short horns, and (as a rule) short hair. The beard in the males is not long. In
the females it is often absent or is replaced by two sn\all pendulous wattles.
Some of the old '* billies " develop a great growth of hair about the throat and
neck, looking almost like the Thar goat of India.^
THE DOMESTIC GOAT OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA
The wild species of goat, to which the domestic animal of Tropical Africa
bears the most resemblance, is the Cretan Ibex.
The dog of Central Africa is the usual small fox-coloured pariah with erect
ears and jackal-like head. The tail which is generally long and smooth is
sometimes carried over the back. Sometimes the colour is mottled — brown and
white, or black and tan, or black and white. Still, where these piebald tints are
found there is reason to suspect intermixture with foreign breeds, the usual
African type of the pariah dog being a uniform fox-colour. I have sometimes
fancied I saw native hunters using a smaller breed of dogs with short legs for
terriers' work, but I have never actually ascertained that there is such a breed.
Dogs are used a good deal for hunting small game. I have never heard of their
being employed as in South Africa to tackle big animals and bring them to
^ Which is not a true goat, but a different genus — Hemitragtts. Of course the resemblance is
accidental.
28
434 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
bay. This African pariah dog has a certain attachment to its native master, but
it is always suspicious, furtive and cringing. Europeans they dread strangely,
but though they growl angrily they are much too cowardly to bite. They have
one good negative quality : they cannot bark.
The domestic cat is (unless in or near European settlements) of that lanky,
thin-tailed, small-headed Indian type. It is evidently closely related to the
wild native cat {Felis Caffrd) with which it freely interbreeds. The cat is by
no means universally met with as a domestic animal in Central Africa. There
is always a suspicion about its being a foreign introduction from Europe, India,
or North-East Africa.
The domestic fowl is a most useful bird. It is small — not much larger than
a bantam — short- legged,^ inclining to the game-cock breed but for its full comb.
This bird can be excellent eating if a little attention is paid to its fattening. It
is not a good layer from our point of view, the hens laying about every two or
three days for some eight months in the year. They sit well and are good
mothers, especially in rearing foster-children such as young turkeys, geese, or
ducks.
There is no such thing as a domestic goose throughout all Africa (except in
European settlements) from the borders of Egypt to the Cape. The Portuguese
have in their East and West African possessions done much to try and domesti-
cate the spur-winged goose and the Vulpanser? but the idea has not caught on
among the natives. The Muscovy duck, introduced by the Portuguese from
Brazil, has, however, come into favour among the negroes of Nyasaland,
Mozambique, East Africa, West Africa, and the Congo Basin as a domestic
bird.
The common blue pigeon (with white, mottled, dark-slate-coloured and fawn
varieties) is kept as a domestic bird in the Shire Highlands, on the east and
west coasts of Nyasa, and on part of the Nyasa Tanganyika plateau and the
south coast of Tanganyika ; also in all the Arab settlements. But it is not
found far away from villages which are in touch with European or Arab
civilisation.
From the foregoing list (which with the addition of the horse, donkey, camel
pig, and turkey may be made in varying degree to apply to all Tropical Africa)
it will be seen that as in plants so in animals nothing indigenous has been
tamed, adapted, cultivated by the negro.
With the exception of the donkey all the beasts and birds above enumerated
are Asiatic, European, or American in their origin. Cattle, goats, sheep, came
down through Egypt in very ancient time. Earlier still from Arabia and India
came the pariah dog.
The pig was introduced by the Portuguese.
The cat was brought here (probably from India) by the Arabs and Portu-
guese. Farther north in Tropical Africa the cat may have found its way
southwards and westwards from Egypt. From Egypt also came the domestic
fowl.^ The Muscovy duck and turkey were introduced by the Portuguese ; and
the same people, together with the Arabs, brought the pigeon.
The very guinea fowl, though domesticated after a fashion by the Berbers,
Libyans, Egyptians and Arabs in the early part of the Christian era, and by
^ Except where infected by that awful long-legged Indian variety introduced by the Arabs and
Portuguese.
■•* "Egyptian goose,'* ** Zambezi duck"— a bird which is a connecting-link between the ducks and
geese.
^ Which the Egyptians received from Persia and the Persians from India.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 435
them passed on to the Roman world, remains undomesticated to this day
in Negro Africa.
The donkey, though derived from the wild ass of Abyssinia, Nubia, and
Galaland, is really only tamed by people of Hamitic or Semitic stock or inter-
mixture, and by these is passed on in a domesticated state to East Africa. The
negroes, who may have herds of these tame asses, cannot domesticate the zebra.
They may be devoted to cattle-keeping, yet it never enters their heads to utilise
the buffalo or eland of their own land. The w^ild dogs and cats of Tropical
Africa, the gazelles, antelopes, wild swine, giraffe, elephant ; the guinea fowl,
francolin, turtle doves, cranes, hawks, duck, geese, and ostrich are all capable
of domestication, but the negro makes no effort, expresses no desire to under-
take this task, though by subduing and utilising these beasts and birds he
might add enormously to his material wealth and comfort
Hunting in this part of Africa is not carried on with quite the same vigour
as in the countries to the south of the Zambezi or west of the River Kafue :
no doubt because it is more densely wooded. Before guns were introduced in
the last century the natives usually dug large pits along the elephant tracks
which they skilfully covered with branches and grass. The elephants were
then driven in that direction by shouts or bush fires, and one or more of the
huge beasts would fall into the pit and remain at the mercy of its captors who
killed it with spears. Or bolder hunters might steal up to a drowsy elephant in
the noonday and ham-string him by cutting the tendons of the heel. Then he
would be done to death with spears and arrows. Others again might be killed
by poisoned arrows : but with all these ways (similar no doubt to those w^hich
primeval man employed with the mammoth and mastodon) no large number
of elephants were killed until guns were introduced, and then the steady
diminution of the elephants commenced.
Lions and leopards would not (in those days before guns) be tackled except
under great provocation. The buffalo and rhinoceros were let alone (the
rhinoceros was and is much dreaded), the larger antelopes and zebras were
driven by huge numbers of men (" Bua," the hunt, as it was called) towards
converging hedges of stout wattles often built for miles, and when massed
together in a cul-de-sac (which sometimes ended in a huge pit) were speared or
clubbed. The smaller antelope and rodents were and are pursued by dogs and
are also netted. [Nets are put up like a converging fence and the bushbuck or
other small antelopes are driven into them and become entangled.] Birds
were shot with arrows or were limed. [Bird-lime is made from sticky sap
and is used not only for catching birds but large insects.] But as a rule the
natives cared and care still little for the flesh of birds.
The hippopotamus is harpooned by some tribes.^ They pursue him in
canoes with a long heavy spear, the base of the blade being prolonged into
spikes on either side of the haft so that it enters the body easily but cannot
be drawn out This harpoon is of course attached to a stout rope. But the
sport is a dangerous one. The hippopotamus is also killed in traps. A sharp,
heavy spear is poised (weighted with a big beam) over the path along which
he goes to feed, and is held up in such a way by ropes that when the hippo-
potamus moves a rope the spear falls and usually severs the spine or penetrates
* There are certain castes of Zambezi people who make hippopotamus hunting a profession and
travel far and wide for the purpose. They are a very civil folk, always careful to ask permission from
the " lord of the manor," from the chief of the waterside, to whom they scrupulously hand over a proportion
of the flesh and the ivory.
436 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
some vital part. These hippopotamus traps are common sights in the natives'
plantations by the river side or on the lake shore.
Birds and small mammals are caught in a running noose, or clever little
traps are made for the same purpose.
"The old order changeth," however, and most forms of native sport are
being brought to the dead level of gunnery. This induces more selfishness
than formerly, when successful hunting was a matter which depended on
the friendly co-operation of large numbers of men. Formerly a rigid etiquette
was observed in the killing of game. No stranger would attempt to hunt in a
country which was not his without first obtaining the chief's permission ; and
when successful a portion of the meat was sent to the chief or the proprietor
of the land as a present or tribute. The "ground tusk" of elephants was
always given to the chief, also the skins of lions or leopards, both by strangers
and by his own subjects. In many of these tribes it is a treasonable offence
for any one but a chief to sit on a lion or leopard skin.
Fishing is carried on by the rod and line (possibly learnt from Europeans),
by netting, and by erecting fish weirs and basket traps ; also by poisoning the
water and stupefying the fish in certain still or stagnant river pools. The fish
baskets are often cleverly constructed with long recurved strips of bamboo
arranged in the neck of a funnel. The fish forces its way in after the bait and
cannot return. The netting is usually done with large seines, though I have
seen hand nets used.
The preceding remarks on cultivated and wild fruits, grains, and vegetables,
on domestic animals and the beast of the chase will have given a fairly compre-
hensive description of the natives' dietary. To complete it I have only to add
that in some tribes (especially among the women) and in some districts there is
a craving for argillaceous clay, which they eat with (I imagine) results that are
eventually fatal; and further that they consume with gusto certain insects:
these are the flying white ants, the " Kungu " fly of Lake Nyasa, large beetle
grubs, caterpillars, and locusts. The white ants are roasted wings and all, dried
in the sun, pounded in a mortar and made into cakes, which are eaten as a
relish. The minute "Kungu " fly (which rises from the water of Lake Nyasa in
the dry season in dense clouds) is treated in the same way. It flies against
mats which are hung up, is swept off, packed into oily cakes, roasted, and eaten.
I believe in some districts the grubs of bees are eaten, taken from the honey-
comb. Most of these insects are served up as a relish to be eaten with the
porridge. In the same way small fish are dried, mixed with salt and pounded
into a paste. Honey is much appreciated. In some districts hives are made
of bark and placed in the trees near a village for the wild bees to build in. The
quality of the honey depends on the prevailing flowers from which the bees
draw their supplies. Occasionally it is white, firm, and exquisitely flavoured.
The natives of the West Shire district (where much honey and wax are
collected) make a kind of mead from the honey, which is diluted with water
and fermented.
Farinaceous food is the mainstay of the Central African negro and is chiefly
eaten in the form of porridge — the Ugali of the Yao and Swahili ; the Nsima
of the A-nyanja, A-mambwe, A-lungu, A-senga, and Aba-bisa ; the Ikindi of
the Wankonde. This is made ordinarily of the flour of Sorghum,^ maize,
cassava, or banana ; nearly always of Sorghum, however. The grain is
* To give my readers some idea of what Sorghum grain is like I might say it is similar to a huge
millet seed, nearly round, about the size of swan shot.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 437
softened with water, pounded in a large wooden mortar, winnowed in long
flat baskets, then ground to flour by a smooth stone working on the flat
smooth surface of a much larger block of stone. The flour thus made is
whitish-grey — sometimes pure white — and feels more granular to the touch
than would be the case with mill-ground wheat flour. It is said that the
trituration between the stone surfaces causes minute particles of stone to
mix with the flour (as must be the case since the nether stone is soon worn into
a hollow by the process), and that this slight admixture of grit has a very bad
effect on the digestive organs of Europeans and Indians. Certainly neither can
eat " ufa " ^ (as the native fldur is called) long without getting diarrhoea or
dysentery.
The flour made from various farinaceous substances is mixed with water and
boiled in a pot, being constantly stirred with a stick to prevent lumps forming.
When it is cool it is rolled into balls with the fingers and eaten usually with a
relish 2 — fish, fowl, meat of any kind, spinach made from various leaves or
flowers, white ants, etc.
Rice is boiled in a measured quantity of water in a covered pot until the
water is all absorbed by the swelled grain, which is thus " steamed.'* Those
natives to whom rice is known cook it admirably. Indian corn if it be not
made into porridge or boiled or roasted on the cob,* is (when the grain is old)
held over the fire on a tin plate or dish cover until it is parched into "pop corn."
when it is eaten with much gusto. This is usually the way of feeding during
a hurried march.
Millet and eleusine* grains are usually reserved for making beer. For this
purpose, too, large quantities of sorghum and maize are used. The grain is
soaked till it sprouts. Then it is pounded and thrown into a large pot of
boiling water, to which is also added a thickening of flour to give body to the
beer. After boiling and straining the beer is poured out into pots or huge jars
of basket work so tightly knit as to hold liquids. The beer must stand for
a day and then it is fit for drinking, but after about four days it is sour and
unwholesome. Sometimes bran, gruel of flour and water, half pounded corn,
and the malt made from the germinating grain are all mixed together, and form
a sweet thick beer full of nutriment. Sick or convalescent people are fed on
this. Some chiefs at the south end of Tanganyika scarcely take any other food
than this beer-gruel and grow fat on it.
The sap of most of the palms is tapped and drunk as a sweet heady drink,
which when quite fresh from the tree (palm wine) is not intoxicating but
becomes very alcoholic after fermentation. Milk is the favourite food in North-
West Nyasaland. It is also drunk in the Awemba country, and round Lake
Bangweolo. On the other hand it is ignored or disliked by the Yao and the
A-nyanja peoples. No tribe within the confines of this territory makes any
form of butter or ghi out of the milk except the Arabs and their followers.
Wherever Arabs are settled a supply of milk may almost always be counted
on. Eggs are seldom eaten and then usually when they have been sat on for
* Ufa of many Nyasa tribes, Usu of South Tanganyika, Utaiidi of the Wa-yao, Uivuftt of the
Wankonde, Unga of the Swahili.
2 Swahili, Kitoweo ; Chi-nyanja, Ndiwo ; Vao, Mhoga ; Iki-nkonde, Iliseke', Kifwa of South
Tanganyika.
* Sometimes the soft grain of the young sorghum and maize is mashed on a stone, tied up in leaves,
and boiled.
* A small grain which grows at the end of a short stalk on three broad racemes like three split
capsules. In Swahili, VUzi ; Chinyanja, i>/j:z<fr<f ; Kimambwe, Malesi,
438
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
some time and are deserted by the hen. Like the Kruboys of West Africa, the
negro of Central Africa likes his egg " full of meat." Fish is usually split open
and roasted. It is often dried first in the sun and may be eaten in this way
without further cooking. Sometimes it is made into a stew with peppers and
vegetables and is then used as a relish to be eaten with the porridge ; or, more
rarely, it is fried in fat or oil.^
The meat of poultry or beasts is roasted (spitted on sticks stuck in the
ground against a fire) or stewed in a pot with vegetables and condiments
(peppers, turmeric, salt, etc.). When men are very hungry flesh is but slightly
cooked before it is devoured.
The native likes a little meat as a relish with his doughy porridge or rice :
but he can quite well do without it and can get on much better without meat
than if deprived of all vegetable food. Still when meat comes in his way (after
successful hunting or at big feasts) he can devour an enormous quantity and
gorges himself till the pains of indigestion are intense. In some districts a
meat diet is partaken of by the young men for several days before going to war.
I have nowhere met with any tribe among whom obtained the practice of
drinking blood or eating it cooked, as is characteristic of so many East and
North-East African peoples.
Salt is much liked. It is an absolute necessity of existence in the n^^o's
opinion. Salt is put into porridge and above all into the relish eaten with the
porridge or rice.
The cooking is done in small and large clay pots. Where tins have not
been introduced by the Europeans, large potsherds are used as frying-pans.
Women do most of the preparing and cooking of the food ; but any man
or boy can at a pinch cook for himself or his comrades.
Certain fancies and peculiar customs prevail regarding articles of diet.
Eccentric things are eaten by persons of both sexes for special purposes, while
on the other hand wholesome and ordinary forms of food may be excluded for
more or less fanciful reasons. Thus among the Wankonde the women never
eat fowls. The Angoni, Yao and A-nyanja men sometimes eschew fowls as
an article of diet for various reasons. Some men never eat goat, affirming that
it makes them unwell. ^ Other tribes refuse to eat fish or a particular kind
of fish. Men will eat the flesh of lions to make them brave ; libidinous persons
consume the testes of goats as an aphrodisiac ; the heart of a brave enemy
is cooked and devoured by those who wish to share his courage. Many people
have a particular liking for the half-digested grass found in the stomach of
antelopes oroxen.
Fire is made by twirling a short cane or stick in a notch or hole cut in a flat
piece of wood. The stick is continually pressed down and is twirled backwards
and forwards between the palms of the hands till the tinder (usually dry bark-
cloth) is ignited. Then the smouldering tinder is placed in a handful of dry
grass leaves and blown gently into a flame. Fire, however, is not often made in
this special way. In the village there is always sure to be a burning brand
in one or other of the house fires from which a new^ fire can be lit ; and men
going on a journey will take smouldering sticks along with them and endeavour
to transport fire in this way rather than go to the trouble of creating it by
friction.
^ Fr}'ing is not a common method of cooking among those natives who are not under the influence of
Europeans or Arabs,
^ And, according to Dr. Cross, goat's flesh does occasionally have this effect on individuals.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 439
In some tribes fire is carefully extinguished on the hearth and made anew
by friction when a death or a birth takes place ; at the beginning of the hoeing
season and at harvest.
It is an interesting consideration whether fire was known to the earth before
man first made it accidentally, and then of set purpose. I think it was, in Central
Africa at any rate ; and this through the action of lightning. Again and again
in the great thunderstorms at the end of the dry season cases have occurred,
under the observation of Europeans, of lightning striking a living tree or dead
tree-stump, setting it on fire and communicating the flames to the surrounding
herbage, thus starting a bush-fire. This action of the lightning is of almost
yearly occurrence, even so far as our limited records go. Therefore it is quite
possible that in the drier parts of East Africa bush-fires may have occurred
year after year from natural causes alone without man's intervention : and that
even from this cause man may have become acquainted with fire and the effects
of fire before he had evolved the art of fire-making. Fire may even have been
preserved from one of these annual conflagrations for days, weeks, months
afterwards until it became such a necessity to man that the human mind sought
eagerly for a means of creating this force without waiting for the hazardous
accident of a . thunderstorm.^ So the sparks from the chipped flints and the
kindling tinder made in boring into hard wood would suggest the means-
of accomplishing the first miracle.
Most of the natives in this part of Africa ascribe the causes of disease
and death in the first place to witchcraft and secondly to the direct action of
God. They draw a marked distinction between death from disease — which
usually means death from witchcraft — and death from accident or in warfare.
These are more or less the acts of God and not to be helped, though sometimes
an accident may be ascribed to a person having been bewitched, especially if it
is a man out hunting and death has been due to wild beasts. In this respect
the belief in " were " animals, that is to say in human beings who have changed
themselves into lions or leopards or some such harmful beasts, is nearly universal.
Moreover there are individuals who imagine they possess this power of assuming
the form of an animal and killing human beings in that shape.
I remember a case which occurred at Chiromo soon after we commenced the
administration of the Protectorate. A series of murders and mutilations took
place in the vicinity of the native village. At last they were traced to an old
man who, it was found, concealed himself in long grass near the route to the
river side and when solitary passers-by came near him he would leap at them
unawares and stab them. He then mutilated their bodies. He was caught
almost red-handed and abundant evidence was given as to his being the author
of every one of these crimes : but the old man himself talked very freely about
the whole matter and admitted having committed the murders. He could not
help it (he said) as he had a strong feeling at times that he was changed into
a lion and was impelled, as a lion, to kill and mutilate.^
Nevertheless though the natives ascribe death in so many cases to the
extraneous action of other persons as well as to an evil spirit they have much
* Bush-fires of this kind may even have taught early man the advantages of cooking. Following
in their track he would come upon roasted rats, small antelopes, and birds which he would find singularly
toothsome.
^ As according to our view of the law he was not a sane person he was sentenced to be detained
** during the chiefs pleasure'* and this ** were-Iion " has been most usefully employed for years in perfect
contentment keeping the roads of Chiromo in good repair.
440 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
practical good sense about applying remedies and have a considerable know-
ledge of therapeutics. They make infusions from the leaves, flowers, bark,
wood, or roots of certain plants to be used as medicine for various diseases.
There is naturally a good deal of empiricism in their remedies as they will add
the blood of a white or red cock to the infusion of herbs, which is given to a sick
man.' Sometimes a piece of the bark from which the infusion is made is worn
round the neck. For some maladies they scarify the skin extensively and are
very successful in dry-cupping.
Mr. J. O. Bowhill, the collector for the West Shire District, states that the
Maflanja in that district use many indigenous drugs, such as Bobwana^ an
anodyne ; Jigagaru, a sedative ; Sabu, a carminative ; Nsonga, a medicine for
the ears ; Petere, "good for asthma '* ; Chisungwa (red seeds and bark pounded),
used as an emetic ; Mpiu, a medicine used in child-birtR ; Kanyanja, a drug for
curing headaches ; Pichiru Maungu, another medicine for dulling pain ; Modi,
for burns, and Mlaza, a sedative for mad people.
Charcoal is used for painting wounds and ulcers. Some drugs are employed
as emetics, others to induce premature labour and abortion. '* Charcoal is used"
(states the Rev. D. C. R. Scott) "for painting wounds and ulcers with a thick
black paste. This is guarded by a piece of gourd-shell neatly cut, pierced with
holes by which strings fasten it over the sore place. Clean leaves also are used
as dressing. . . . Severe caustic medicines are employed in some instances for
painting ulcers. ... In cases of neuralgia or rheumatism blood-letting is
frequently resorted to with a cup made for the purpose. Boils are opened
and are carefully treated ; small-pox pustules are let out with a thorn and the
body is protected with banana leaves. Affections of the chest and throat are
treated by inhaling a steam which can be made from various boiled barks ;
the body is similarly steamed."
The natives throughout this country and elsewhere in Tropical Africa have
a great belief in curing sickness, especially if it be a fever or a chill, by the
Turkish bath system. They will shut themselves up in a hut before a blazing
fire and sweat profusely. Limbs afflicted with rheumatic pains are often
" massed." Massage is very commonly met with among the people round
Tanganyika and on the west coast of Lake Nyasa, but has probably been
introduced by the Arabs who are great believers in it.^
But there is another side to medicine, in which the belief of the natives
is equally strong. It can be used empirically. Love potions are made which
sometimes appear to have this amount of reality in them that they are
aphrodisiacs to some extent.
Thieves believe that a medicine or charm can be concocted (called in
Chinyanja "Chikululu," by the Wa-nyamwezi of East Central Africa, "Mionga"*)
which if worn round the thief's neck will cause any persons with whom he
comes into contact to fall asleep or else will make him come and go invisible
to other men. (Sometimes this medicine appears to be compounded of the ver>'
strong drug Strophanthus, locally known as Kontbe, a medicine which is also
' Not only are there infusions, but roots or fruits are ground to powder and taken in that form.
*^ The very word "Massage" comes from the Arabic Mas. This word is adopted also into Hindustani,
where Mds krna means *'To Mass or Shampoo." The Arabic word apparently comes from Masa —
he touched, handled.
^ The late Colonel J. A. Grant says that this "medicine" is a branch of the Steganotania tree. "With
a branch of it in the hand or by placing the branch over the doorway a man may rob a house without
detection ; or if he places the branch alongside a goat's body which has been sacrificed at the crossroads
all persons will go to sleep where he intends to plunder."
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 441
used to stupefy fish and to poison arrows.) The thief or person wishing to
escape consumes some himself, believing that it renders him invisible. It is
possible that this belief might arise from the action of the drug which taken
in quantities not large enough to cause death merely brings about a temporary
insensibility. A case illustrating this occurred once at Fort Johnston, and is
referred to in my review of the History in Chapter IV.^
While on the one hand medicines are supposed to give thieves good luck
in stealing, on the other, counter-charms buried in the house or garden will
protect property against thieves. Very often these charms are hung up on
sticks at the entrance to plantations. Again, other medicines will bring good
luck in the shooting of wild animals, or when fixed in some way to the stock
of the gun will enable the possessor to shoot straight in time of war ; while
there are innumerable" recipes for rendering one's person safe from risks in
warfare. The natives have a firm belief in this last. White men exhibiting
bravery in battle, or gaining victory after victory, are simply said to possess
" war medicine " which renders them both invulnerable and bound to succeed.
These negroes can sometimes be made recklessly brave by their firm belief
in the medicine of some particular chief Not until many of them have fallen
on the field of battle will they lose faith in the potency of the chief's charms.
These medicines are sometimes heterogeneous substances reduced to powder
and enclosed in the horns of small antelopes. Drugs which are supposed
to act by occult means are thrown at the person whom they are intended
to influence, or they may simply be buried, and, as it were, dedicated to him,
sometimes in the vicinity of his habitation.
The poison ordeal is universal as a custom and prevails over the greater
part of pagan Negro Africa, the same substance being used throughout for the
ordeal. This is known in British Central Africa as Muavi, or Mwai, and
is made of the triturated bark of the Erythrophlcsum guincense. Certain indi-
viduals undertake as a kind of trade the special business of pounding the
Muavi bark. It is usually prepared in a small wooden mortar, with a wooden
pestle. The water is gradually mixed with the bark as it is being pounded and
this is generally done just when the stuff is wanted so that it may be drunk
fresh.
Natives are despondent patients in sickness in their own communities,
as illness is so often ascribed to witchcraft, and they believe themselves to
be in the power of some evil-disposed witch or wizard, who has doomed them
to death and whose spells are stronger than those of the friendly medicine man.
But they have an almost sublime faith in the European doctor and in his hands
they are usually confident of recovery while their remarkable insensibility
to pain makes them admirable subjects for operations. Many things may
be done to a Central African negro without anaesthetics which in the case
of a European or Indian would not only require the application of chloroform
or ether, but might even then prove to be too severe a shock to the system for
subsequent recovery. It has been remarkable sometimes, after one of our
* Msamara, a chief, had been imprisoned in Fort Johnston. His friends were allowed to have access
to him and brought him one day a horn of medicine which was probably powdered Strophanthus. The
next night he look a dose and stripped off his clothes (the idea being that the clothes could not be
rendered invisible) and attempted, stark naked, to walk out of his prison. On the Sikh sentries, who were
not asleep, presenting their bayonets, Msamara had to retire to the cell once more and explain away
the matter next morning by saying that he had been walking in his sleep. The following night, however,
he apparently took an extra strong dose of Strophanthus and was found lying dead with the empty
horn of medicine in his hand and all his clothes removed.
442 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
battles, to see the wounded on both sides being dealt with by our surgeons.
Operations of the most terribly painful character are being carried on and
the patients are smiling, with an occasional wince or grimace, but meantime
plaiting grass with their fingers or watching the application of the surgical
implements with positive interest.
There are amongst them two classes of medicine man, or woman — the
acknowledged or suspected wizard or witch, who by his or her own confession
aims at influence over the human frame with the aid of spirits or charms ; and
the genuine doctor or doctress, a person who by no means discards the use
of empirical methods or the action on the patient's imagination secured by
mystic rites and substances supposed to have magical value, but who neverthe-
less has a considerable knowledge of drugs, and frequently effects remarkable
cures by honest therapeutics. When a man, woman, or child falls ill the
relatives (for there is much mutual help and sympathy amongst these people)
go to the nearest and best doctor of repute. He is told the symptoms and
asked to prescribe for the patient. If it be the opinion of the sufferer himself,
or of his relatives, that his malady is solely due to withcraft, the person appealed
to may be a witch-finder — often a woman. In such a case the patient is visited,
various incantations and absurd rites are gone through, usually ending in a
little clumsy l^ger de main. The magician, having previously secreted some
substance, will pretend to have drawn it from the person's body and with it the
sickness, or will have previously buried it at the base of a tree or at the lintel
of the hut, and will then in the presence of the gullible bystanders dig it
up, accompanying most of these actions by frantic leaping and gesticulation and
even by involuntary self-induced convulsions. If the patient does not recover
then the magician owns that the opposing witch or wizard has stronger spells
and nothing can be done. If suspicion falls on any individual he or she is
sometimes propitiated by presents and if recovery then follows all is well ; if not
then there is strong presumptive evidence that the death is due to this obstinate
wizard, who to prove his or her innocence must submit to the Muavi ordeal.
But it may be that the patient or his friends are convinced in the first instance
that he is suffering from some well-known malady which can be easily cured by
native drugs, or this is the opinion entertained by the doctor they have called
in. This individual then proceeds to the woods and prepares from bark, leaves,
flowers, seeds, or roots, such medicine as he may consider meets the case. It
is noteworthy how efficacious these medicines are. In an obstinate case of
seemingly incurable sickness, where a native soldier or policeman is apparently
going to pieces, he will ask permission to return to his own people and go
through a native cure. After a lapse of about three months, having completed
his cure — whatever it may be — he returns sound and well.
The whole subject of native drugs is a most important one, which is being
carefully investigated by certain Europeans in the country. Already, it must
be remembered, the valuable Strophanthus drug, now much used in the British
Pharmacopoeia, was originally sent home to this country by the late Mr.
Buchanan, who had noticed that it was largely used in native medicine, and also
for the purpose of stupefying fish and poisoning arrows. It is now one of our
regular articles of export.^
^ Dr. Kerr Cross states: — "The Wankonde have a wonderful knowledge of herbs and medicinal
plants. Of these they make infusions from the leaves, flower, bark, wood or roots. Often the blood of
a white or red cock is added to the infusion which the sick man must drink. When he has done this a
piece of the healing bark is worn round the neck. They also scarify the wound extensively to counteract
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 443
The patient, however, fails to recover, we will suppose, either by faith cure in
the belief that the evil influence of the witch is averted, or by good nursing and
suitable drugs. He dies. If he has been a chief or a rich man and has lived in
a district where European influence does not prevail, a sudden capture is made
of a number of his slaves who are put in slave sticks to be subsequently
slaughtered at their master's grave, so that they may go with him to the spirit
world.
Amongst the Wankonde at the north end of Lake Nyasa the female relatives
wash and anoint the dead body with oil ; and this custom of washing, anointing
and subsequently swathing the corpse after death is almost universal in this part
of Africa.
But the Wankonde have a peculiar custom (as I am informed by Dr. Cross)
of making ^post mortem examination immediately after death, in order that the
cause from which the person has died may be fully ascertained. The body is
laid out in the shade of a tree, and one of the elders of the village takes a sharp
bamboo and makes an incision in the median line of the stomach from the end
of the breast bone to the navel. He then carefully examines the mesentery, and
according to what he sees in the distribution of the blood-vessels confirms or
denies the supposition that death has been due to witchcraft This is done to
the corpse of every person not dying in warfare.^
Among all tribes the persons who have handled, washed, anointed and laid
out the corpse are considered to be unclean for several days afterwards. They
eat amongst themselves and if they have to approach the village remain outside
calling for what they want. Ordinarily the people who perform these services
for the deceased are his relations — the brothers or sisters. If the dead person
be a woman she is attended to in the first instance by women. The body
is swathed in cloth among those tribes who are in contact with supplies of
European goods ; but this would appear to be rather a custom imported from
the Muhammadan. In the wilder parts of the country corpses are usually tied
up with strips of bark in a sitting position. When these services are completed
and the deceased is ready for burial those who have prepared the body perform
various ablutions and get rid of their " uncleanliness."
one pain by another ; they dry-cup freely and seem to be very successful in this. We have a lot to learn
from the Wankonde doctors. "
In regard to dry-cupping it is usually performed in this way : — First of all the place on the skin where
the cupping is to take place is moistened, then a cup-shaped instrument made of antelope horn with
a small hole bored at the end is firmly pressed on to the moistened skin. The hole at the stem of the cup
is filled up with wax. Through this is thrust a tube of grass— similar to the straws with which people
absorb cooling drinks. The doctor then sucks hard at the grass tube, the blood comes to the surface of the
skin and the drawn-up flesh rises into the cup. The grass tube is withdrawn and the hole closed with
wax after the air is exhausted. When the horn is remov^ the blood has formed large weals or lumps under
the skin.
* The Anyanja divide the causes of death into three. One is the direct act of God, namely some
sudden accident or the outcome of some widespread epidemic ; occasionally also the result of well-known
diseases obviously incurred in a natural manner. Secondly, death in warfare or by open assassination, for
the murderer may or may not be held responsible according to native law ; these deaths at any rate demand
no fiirther enquiry. Thirdly, death by witchcraft, where the malady is of an obscure kind, or where an
individual has been killed by some wild beast, either in hunting or as an act of unprovoked aggression on
the part of the animal. On these occasions the wild l)east is supposed to be either inspired by the spirit
of the witch or to be actually a '* were," or human being disguised as a wild animal. The Wa-yao hold
much the same ideas. When during a truce the Yao chief Makanjira was considering the terms of })eace
proposed by Major Edwards one of his councillors rose and advised war with the British to the bitter end.
The discussion was taking place in the bush, and by a curious coincidence at that moment an enraged
bull buffalo charged the whole party, singling out (and so wounding that eventually he died) the aforesaid
coancillor. The Yao at once declared that this buffalo was none other than Major Edwards and war was
resumed with greater bitterness on this account.
444 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
In the case of the A-nyanja the body is usually stretched at full length when
prepared for burial ; amongst the Wa-yao the legs are bent ; with the Wankonde
the body is tied up in a sitting position, the knees drawn up against the chin
with the hands clasped round the legs. This appears to be the position adopted
by almost all the other tribes of British Central Africa.
Muhammadans are, of course, swathed in cloth and buried at full length.
Wailing begins as soon as the death is officially announced : it is generally
commenced by the wives of the deceased (if a male) or by the mother or sister
of the dead woman. Mourning consists of plaintive songs, much drumming,
and mystic dancing. Where the people have been in contact with the coast
Muhammadans, guns are fired if a great man has died. This firing of guns
is kept up at intervals until the burial is finished. The Wa-yao and some
other tribes throw flour over their heads and shoulders when in mourning;
the A-nyanja and the people of the west coast of Lake Nyasa tie strips of
bark cloth, or plaited straw, or blue calico round their arms and waists.
Amongst the Wa-yao and A-nyanja the corpse, whether swathed or not, is
usually rolled up in the mat which belonged to his bed, or in cases where the
mourning on account of a chief or big man is to last a long time the body
is enclosed in a cylinder of bark. It is then placed over a hole dug in the
floor of the hut so that the inconvenience caused by decomposition may be
thus got rid of. The smell attending decomposition is neutralised by hemp
and other aromatic weeds being burned. It often happens, however, that the
deceased person who is to be mourned such a long period has his body poised
over what is to be subsequently his grave ; for men are often buried in their
own houses.
If, however, the dead person is to be buried away from the village a long
pole is passed through the mat or cylinder enclosing the body and the corpse
is then carried along on the shoulders of undertakers who go out accompanied
by a number of men and women marching with drums and chants. The
grave is dug, the body buried, the earth heaped over it and fences are erected
to which there may be subsequently added a grass roof.
The Rev. Duff Macdonald states that amongst the Yao no one very closely
related to the deceased accompanies the body to the grave if it can possibly
be helped — that is to say, if there are enough people in the village not thus
related to carry out the ceremony. Mothers are allowed to go to the funerals
of their children if they have died in infancy, not otherwise ; a father will
not go to the funeral of his children nor the husband to that of his wife.
Mr. Macdonald also states that the chief relative of the deceased — what we
should call the first mourner — does not come to the grave, as that would unfit
him for the task of prosecuting the witch that caused the death.
The grave is not dug, nor is the site of it actually indicated until the funeral
party arrives, after which grave-digging commences. The diggers are supported
from time to time by^ rations of food brought by the women and the grave
is dug with hoes and according to the measurement of the body. When the
grave is finished two forked stakes are driven into the ground at each end of
it. The body is then lowered and the forked sticks receive the projecting
parts of the bamboo that carried the corpse to the grave. It is thus suspended
between these two sticks without touching the bottom of the grave. The top
of the grave is roofed in by logs of wood. Articles which are to be buried
with the deceased are then put in and earth is finally sifted over the hole.
According to Mr. Macdonald this strong wooden fence round the grave
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 445
is supposed to keep out the witch who has caused the death and who now
wishes to eat the flesh of her victim and may come there in the shape of a
hyena to dig up the body.
As to the articles buried with the body : — Amongst the 'Wa-yao if the
deceased is a rich man a small portion of his ivory is ground to powder and
handfuls of beads are smashed up before they are put into the grave. This
appears to be done with the double object of preventing thieves from robbing
the graves and also of " killing " the articles put in so that they may accompany
the deceased to the spirit world. In like manner his pots and drinking vessels
have holes drilled through them or are broken, and likewise added to the stock
of utensils in the grave.
Where the custom is carried out of killing slaves to accompany the deceased
on his journey the grave is of course a very much larger one, and the slaves are
either buried alive or have their throats cut and their bodies are laid at the
bottom of the grave. On them the body of the deceased reposes.
Amongst many of the tribes of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, of Tangan-
yika and elsewhere to the west, the corpse is usually left in the grave (which
is a round hole about five feet deep) for ten lunar months, after which time it is
taken up at midnight and the bones (for by this time it is practically reduced
to a skeleton) are carried to one of the sacred clumps of forest on the high hills
in the neighbourhood, a forest to which only the sorcerers and medicine men go.
Forests all over the country are used for burial, either for the bestowal of bones
or for the interment of the undisturbed corpse. Consequently natives often
oppose one's exploration of the thick jungle just where it is most attractive to
the botanist — more I think because they do not wish you to come to any harm
by offending the spirits than because they are shocked at your profanity.
Sometimes when I have explained to them I merely wished to go there to
gather flowers they have raised no objections, although I remember in one case
a strong protest being uttered against my taking away some gorgeous yellow
blossoms from a shrub which grew in one of these native cemeteries.
Among the Awa-wamdia of North-West Nyasa the bones after they are
disinterred are burned ; they are not thrown into the forest. A great festival
takes place when the bones are burnt, at which a quantity of native beer is
drunk.
Amongst the Awa-ndali of North- West Nyasa the corpse is interred outside
the hut in which the person has died, at one side of the door. A grass covering
is put over the mound. Should, however, any member of the deceased's
family become ill within a year, the misfortune is attribued to the deceased,
and to obviate any further harm the nearest relative of the person there buried
digs up the bones at midnight and carries them to the dense bush where they
are deposited. Dr. Cross writes : — " I have gone into several of the thick
clumps of trees in this country and have found the ground covered with
human bones." ^
All the Wankonde peoples are particular about their mourning customs.
The banana trees which may have belonged to the deceased during his life are
cut down. His or her pots and baskets are broken or destroyed and the home
is often left to decay. But the dead are not forgotten. The grave is usually
marked by a small grass covering (this also applies to the Wa-yao and the
A-nyanja), and from time to time the relatives place on this mound little baskets
of meal or pots of native beer. I remember after the capture of Zarafi's strong-
hold (which was a ver}' large rambling Yao village up in the mountains) there
446 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
was quite a large native cemetery, outside the town, each grave being marked by
a neat little house made of bamboo stakes with a grass roof and with a mound
over the grave. Each grave was well supplied with little offerings of food which
had evidently been freshly placed there just before the town was captured
Nothing, I was subsequently told, operated more in our favour, or induced the
natives more readily to sue for peace, than the fact that these graves were
respected and left undisturbed. On the other hand Makanjira, in the course of
our warfare, was infuriated by the destruction of his " father's " tomb.^ At the
time we destroyed it we did not realise it was a tomb. We took it for an
unusually stylish house. The roof of this large mausoleum was entirely covered
with white calico intended to imitate the white tombs in Muhammadan countries,
erected over the grave of some saint. At Mponda's town to the south end
of Lake Nyasa there was likewise a huge circular tomb with its thatched roof
covered with white calico. This was partially destroyed during the bombard-
ment. It was the place where the former Mponda had been buried. On enter-
ing the tomb, the roof of which only had been destroyed, we found the grave
was a huge sarcophagus of hardened clay, very similar in shape to the great
stone tombs of the middle ages, with earthenware plates embedded in the mud,
so that at a distance it had rather a fine, coruscating effect from this enamel
of coarse pottery (which of course was derived from the coast in the course of
trade). Finding that the building was the burial place of the Mponda who had
been good to Livingstone, we restored the roof and re-covered it with white
calico of our own will, and that went so far to conciliate Mponda*s people that
although their present chief again fell out with us some years later on his people
did not join him in the rising.
Amongst all those Nyanja tribes where the custom does not prevail of
taking up the bones and scattering them in the forest after a certain lapse of
time, the grave is held sacred. To swear by the grave is a solemn oath.
Sentiment regarding the place of interment is very prevalent even as regards
the burial of Europeans. Such explorers as have visited the place where
Livingstone's heart lies buried, or the graves of Bishop Mackenzie or other
missionaries who have died in British Central Africa, have been struck with the
great care taken of the graves by the natives.
Reference has been made to the belief that deaths can be caused by
occult influence, by witchcraft. Except in the vicinity of mission stations
or such districts as are entirely under the control of European officials this
belief is widespread, and probably no tribe or section of people is exempted
from it.
The witch, or wizard, Mfiti — as opposed to Siilanga^ the doctor, the
medicine man — is the terror of the Central African negro community. And
in most parts of British Central Africa — especially among the A-nyanja —
there is a real excuse for this terror in the fact that Mfiti — or Zimfiti, as
the plural is sometimes — are depraved persons with a craving for putrefying
human flesh. This is no fancy ; it is a fact. It is probable that not more
than one or two centuries have elapsed since the bulk of South Central
Africans were cannibals, in the cheerful, daylight manner of the Upper Congo,
where people are killed and eaten for gastronomic pleasure and the act is
normal and unconcealed. Gradually, however, with the vague influence of
the Portuguese to the south and the Arabs to the north, the natives became
^ Not really his father but the chief who ^.receded him, as amongst the Yao son does not succeed
father.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 447
ashamed of eating human flesh, and they grew to regard such a practice as
most abhorrent.^
But while cannibalism in the main disappeared as an avowed custom it has
lingered as a horrible practice amongst depraved people, who now do not care
for healthy human flesh — namely the bodies of people killed in battle — but
crave for dead bodies which have been in the grave a few days or weeks, and
which they exhume and devour. No doubt this custom prevailed among many
other races of man in the savage stage and was the grain of truth at the bottom
of the Eastern myth of the Ghul.
I had not been long in Nyasaland before I heard that cannibalism of a more
or less secret kind still lingered amongst the timid mountaineers of Nyanja race
*on Cholo Mountain midway between Chiromo and Blantyre; and in 1891
a French priest who had been stationed for a year as a missionary at Mponda's
town at the south end of Lake Nyasa, described to me how frequently people
of Nyanja race dug up corpses and devoured them. He described the horror
with which the Muhammadanised Yao regarded this practice, and went on
to relate how a certain woman was accused of being a witch and of eating
human flesh from the graves ; that she stoutly denied the accusation and they
then forced her to drink mwavi ; she found she could not vomit and that death
was certain. She therefore shrieked out "It is true : go to my house and you
will find the remains of a man's leg hidden in such and such a place. ' People
rushed to the house and the priest followed them, and to his horror he saw
them bringing out from the interior what seemed to be the bones of a leg
with fragments of putrefying flesh still remaining attached to the bones. The
woman was killed and burnt by the populace.
The idea amongst the natives is that these Mfiti will the death of a certain
person which they compass by occult means — namely, by secret spells and
charms, by the burying of medicine " against " a person (that is, they take some
stuff* which is supposed to possess mysterious properties and bury it, dedicating
it as they do so to the individual whose death they wish to bring about). Their
main object in causing a person's death is to be able afterwards to eat his body.
Of course with this substratum of fact that these acts of nauseous cannibalism
do occur, there is an enormous amount of superstition mingled. Supernatural
powers are ascribed to these Mfiti^ with whom the eagle-owl, the jackal,
the leopard or the hyena are specially associated, those creatures being supposed
to be the servants of the witches or to be the forms which the sorcerers assume
when they visit the graves or dig up the bodies. The wizard is believed to be
able to make himself invisible, to transport himself as a spirit rapidly from
place to place, and to fly through the air with fantastic gyrations. He may
still be invisible to ordinary eyes while he is taking up and mutilating the
corpse. "When the jackal barks,^ * there,' says the listener in the night, *is
the messenger calling these midnight wretches to their awful orgies ' ; when
^ Yet one constantly meets with cases of it occurring, especially if the act of cannibalism be associated
with rage and the desire to utterly consume the enemy or for the wish to secure his qualities of bravery by
eating his heart. The old Makanjira met his death through cannibalism. He was jealous of a headman
who had acquired power and influence after Makanjira's first defeat at the hands of the British. He
had this man secretly killed, and his body cooked and served up with an enormous mess of native
porridge. A number of chiefs and persons of importance were invited to the feast. After it was over they
were told that the meat they had consumed was the body of So-and-so. One young fellow, a nephew
of Makanjira, was so enraged at having been made to commit this act unconsciously, that he killed
Makanjira then and there, and thus avenged the deaths of Captain Maguire, Dr. Boyce, and Mr. McEwan.
He was however slain himself by the chiefs adherents.
* I quote from the Rev. D. C. R. Scott, in his Maflanga Dictionary.
448 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
a fire is seen on a distant hill where no fire should be, * there is the light of
their cooking fire.'"
The grave is supposed to be alight, to shine with a phosphorescent light
where the Mfiti gather. It is said that the wizards summon the dead
man by the name of his childhood which he laid aside on his initiation. Such
a summons he cannot resist. He emerges from the grave even if it be through
a small hole, then the wizards torture him and knock him down, divide him
limb from limb, cook the flesh and eat it.
Naturally with beliefs like this it is the constant object of the more
wholesome-minded natives to discover and destroy the abominable sorcerers,
and some people are supposed to possess great powers as witch-finders.
These may be male or female ; more often than not they are elderly women.
The witch-finder is sent for after the death has occurred and stays for some
time in the village cross-questioning everyone she can get hold of. She
pretends to have much the same power as the witches, and by means of
medicines and charms to be able to track the witches at night-time in their
transformed shapes. Having thus professed to attend the witches* sabbath
she discovers the names by which they are addressed among themselves, and
then by her own occult powers identifies these assumed names with the
appellations they are known by in the village.
Negroes are gulled most easily and by the rudest sleight-of-hand. They
will believe almost any stories they are told. Probably what the witch-finder
really does is to listen to all the gossip of the village and by observation to
ascertain (i) if any particular person had a grudge against the deceased and
(2) if there is anyone in the place who probably has a leaning to the horrible
practice of rifling the grave and eating decayed human flesh. If she believes
herself to have alighted on such a person then she affects to have arrived at
the knowledge through supernatural means, and clothes her denunciation with
the sanction of the occult. When she has made up her mind she summons
the people together. All the inhabitants of the village must attend. The
witch-finder then commences a fantastic dance in which she works herself up
to the condition of seeming epilepsy. She tears round the informal circle of
spectators, dashes first at one then at another, affects to smell them to see if
she can discover the odour of putrefying meat ; at last she pronounces the
name of the person, the name which she is supposed to have heard at the
witches' sabbath. No one replies. Then the witch-finder says "that is the
name by which the Mfiti is known to the other sorcerers : his or her real
name is such and such." Persons thus accused have to submit to the Muavi
ordeal to prove their innocence. The most remarkable thing about the whole
procedure is that the witch-finder's allegations are sometimes supported by
the supposed culprit who, either from a desire to enjoy renown as a wizard
(with the hope of vomiting the Muavi and thus escaping the consequences),
or because he or she may really believe through disordered dreams that they
have the power to do such things, submits unhesitatingly to the ordeal and
does not attempt to escape.
No doubt it rests a good deal with the individual who prepares the Muavi,
to make the dose strong enough to prove fatal or weak enough to act merely as
an emetic.
A considerable amount of bribery is sometimes resorted to by the accused
or accused's friends. If, however, the muavi remains in the stomach, and
the wretched creature is unable to vomit, a murderous madness seizes the
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 449
surrounding crowd and the now-convicted sorcerer is lynched, the body being
subsequently burnt
The negro, it will be seen, believes that life does not finish when the body
dies. He has been led to this vague hope of immortality insensibly. It has
seemed impossible that the father of the household, the headman of the village,
or the chief of the tribe could abruptly vanish when he has exercised such an
important influence during his lifetime. It would appear as if the Bantu negro
had built up God by degrees out of ancestor worship. Dr. Bleek pointed out
years ago that the common word for God over the eastern half of Bantu Africa
— Mulungu — could be traced to the Zulu word " Munkulunkulu " — the great,
great one, or, the old, old one. There is some truth in this, but I think that a
second belief has come to meet ancestor worship, a belief in the personification
of the heavens, of the sun, moon, and stars, the rain, thunder, lightning : some
mighty Being or Agency who exercises ruling powers over the Universe, the
Being which may by tribe after tribe have been identified with some great dead
chief Still their idea of God — and they all believe in a supreme God — is
somewhat dissociated from their firm belief in life beyond the grave : in the
existence after death of their ancestors, though this existence is not held to be
necessarily perpetual. The ghost or its influence fades away after a time. Yet
they believe that some spirits live interminably especially if the deceased has
been a chief of great influence. Originally, no doubt, they were in the habit
of thrusting their dead into caves or the hollows of mountains.^ Then at other
times and places dense forests were specially used for the secretion of the dead
body ; so in time it came to be thought that most mountains and thick black
forests were haunted by spirits of deceased persons. They have the firmest
belief possible in ghosts, and will tell long circumstantial stories about the
" spooks " they have seen — prosaic stories usually connected with daylight, as
where a woman declares that while winnowing or pounding corn in the noon-
tide, she looked out in the courtyard and saw the spirit of So-and-so passing
along looking exactly as though he were alive. It is thought that these ghosts
have considerable power for good or evil, and they are often propitiated, though
if they become troublesome (that is to say, if vexatious incidents occur or their
descendants fall sick or meet with misfortunes) revenge may be taken on the
bones of the dead persons to whose spirits the annoyance is attributed. They
are dug up from their graves and thrown away, or removed to a far place to be
buried under some tree which is supposed to have a restraining influence over
the spirit Occasionally one of these departed ancestors is believed to have
taken an affection for some eccentric looking rock, or waterfall or rapid, but I
have never met with'any belief in this part of Africa in spirits which were like
the demigods of the Greeks — the soul of the river, the lake, the tree, the
mountain. ^
Yet in some tribes there is a distinct belief in an evil deity either as the
* There is a large native sepulchre in a ravine at Zomba mountain with precipitous sides. Into this
hole many dead persons have been thrown, and their whitened bones can be seen there. There are
numerous legends about all the great mountains of the Shire Highlands. In the caves of this mountain
such and such a chief was buried ; on that hill another, and so on, these mountains now being more or less
the home of the chiefs' spirits.
' Dr. Cross differs from me in this respect. He asserts that a belief of this kind in earth and water-
spirits is held by the Wankonde. I am inclined to think that it would be found that these lesser divinities
are really the spirits of departed ancestors who may be associated with some remarkable object or scenery.
Still the Wankonde are a people somewhat apart and peculiar who have evidently been isolated for
centuries at the north end of like Nyasa, and have maintained many old beliefs elsewhere worn away
just as they have retained a singularly archaic form of Bantu language.
29
450 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
rival ruler of the universe or as an alternative to the good God, in short some
tribes believe — without outside influence — in a devil; This is the case with the
Wankonde at the north end of Lake Nyasa, who, according to Dr. Cross^
believe that Mbase (the spirit of evil) lives in a remarkable cave in the side
of the mountain called Ikombwe. This cave has stalactites and stalag^mites
in abundance. As Mbase is considered to be the source of many troubles
people worship him and propitiate him constantly. When Dr. Cross visited
the cave it was nearly filled up with old broken pots and rotten cloth. These
pots had been deposited full of meal for hundreds of years in the cave so that
it is now almost blocked up. Two years ago a harum-scarum son of chief
Mwankenja determined to set Mbase at defiance and robbed his cave of large
quantities of cloth and offerings of brass-wire and beads. As no harm
happened to him subsequently the belief in an evil spirit is said to have
received a severe shock, and this, with the growing influence of the missionaries,
is bringing about a cessation of the worship.
With all this implicit belief in the lingering life or the immortality of the
soul after death, the natives of Central Africa do not believe in any form
of resurrection. All these peoples have numerous sayings and proverbs
expressive of the fact that the dead never return. If they analysed their
own beliefs they would probably admit that in most cases spirit life had a
definite duration, after which it faded away into the central God, " Mulungu,**
or into nothingness. Certain great men might linger on for centuries.
At the north end of Lake Nyasa the natives constantly offer sacrifices
to the spirits of the dead. Secret places for worship are known as Ilisieta
(plur. Amasieta). They are usually thick clumps of forest or groves of trees
in which people have been buried for generations. The offering is generally
a bullock. The animal is killed by striking it on the back of the neck with
a sharp axe of a special kind kept for the purpose. The blood is carefully
collected and poured over the ground in one of the Amasieta. Prayers are
then offered to the spirits of the forefathers. The head of the ox is laid on the
ground as a further offering while the rest of the body is consumed by the
worshippers.
Divination and the drawing of lots are constantly practised. In Southern
Nyasaland it is a common practice to ascertain whether a certain journey will
be favourable by sticking a knife in the grass and leaning against the blade two
small sticks, or else by laying two tiny sticks on the ground and placing a third
one athwart the two. The person making the experiment then turns aside for
a minute or two and if on looking at the sticks again one or other is found
to have fallen to the ground from against the blade of the knife, or if the stick
laid athwart the other two is disturbed in its position (from any passing breeze)
then the omen is a bad one. Among the more superstitious A-nyanja, muavi
or other medicines are given to fowls or to goats. (There is evidence to show
that originally the medicine would have been given to a slave.) If the creature
thus doctored dies it is an ill omen, if the reverse a good omen. This is used
constantly to try the good faith of strangers. Colonel Edwards, Mr. Sharpe
and myself have often sat anxiously waiting for the result of some such ordeal
in visiting a suspicious tribe, and have been delighted to see the fowl eject the
noxious dose from its crop, or the goat refuse the bolus, knowing then that our
cause was gained. Besides the great Muavi ordeal there are other methods
of testing guilt or innocence. People will plunge their hands into boiling
water. If not scalded they are innocent. A remarkable instance of divining
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 451
occurs amongst the Wankonde. They use a divining stick — apparently a long
flexible wand which has been partly bent or snapped below the portion seized
by the hand, so that it is provided with a kind of hinge and is susceptible
to the least tremor. When a person is accused of stealing they commence
by burning certain roots in a fire. The rod is then shaken over the fire while
simultaneously they call upon the spirits of the departed to use it as a means
of enabling the diviner to discover the thief. The thief-finder then starts off
on his quest much as a thought-reader might do. Whichever way the rod
waggles the diviner follows and at last he affects to have been led to a certain
house, the owner of which is taken to be the thief
Another widespread belief lies in the power of certain wizards to make lions
or other wild beasts or to inspire such as are naturally created with a mission to
destroy. Dr. Cross informs me that there is a man in the Bundale country at
the north end of Lake Nyasa who is believed to make lions. He is very old and
lives in great seclusion, and is said to have several lions lying in the long grass
surrounding his house. He can make these lions do his will, and if properly
paid will undertake the commission of sending the lions to a specified neighbour-
hood to devour or harass the people. Should one man have a dispute with
another he can enforce his case powerfully by these means. " I have frequently
been astonished," writes Dr. Cross, "to see how tenaciously even the most
intelligent cling to this belief. They are firmly convinced that lions do not
roam aimlessly but are sent to a neighbourhood with a definite object in view."
When we were preparing our expedition to fight the great slave-raiding
chief, Matipwiri (to the east of Mount Mlanje in South Nyasaland), he sent to
another Yao chief, Zarafi, for assistance. Zarafi could not aid him in men or
guns but sent his son, who was reputed to be a wizard, to make spells which
should raise up all the lions, leopards, and hyenas in Matipwiri's country
against the invading force. These animals were to meet us half way in the
wilderness and utterly destroy us. The absurd thing was that Matipwiri
and his brother chief Mtiramanja, although they were intelligent men (Matipwiri
had once obtained, probably from a trader, the full uniform of a Portuguese
colonel, and used to style himself a colonel in the Portuguese Army ! ), who had
constant intercourse with the coast, they nevertheless believed in the super-
natural powers of Kadewere, the wizard referred to ; and were so convinced
that the wild animals would stop us from coming that they remained in their
villages until our troops entered the suburbs. Even then on the first day of
our invasion they made but a faint resistance, so astounded were they that
the lions and leopards had not obeyed the orders of their master to harass our
expedition.
Amongst other beliefs is a certain dread of women who are menstruating.
It is thought that if a woman in this condition puts salt into the food her
husband or child eating the food will then become ill and hot and feverish, with
a bad cough. Also it is believed that if a husband or wife has been guilty
of adultery and while under the shadow of the fault puts salt into the food the
children eating thereof will fall sick.
A belief that certain persons have power over the atmosphere so that they
can make rain fall or wind rise or drop is universal, though it is not perhaps such
a prominent subject of consideration as in Africa south of the Zambezi where
the gradual desiccation of the country makes the fall of a shower a crying
necessity.
At the north end of Lake Nyasa there was an old rain-maker named
452 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mwaka Sungula, much revered for his powers of bringing down rain or of*
changing the wind. He was often resorted to when the weather required
amendment. Some six or seven years ago the African Lakes Company's
steamer Domira was stranded in the shallows a little distance to the north of
Karonga. Hundreds of natives were employed for days tugging and hauling
and pushing at the steamer without any result ; she still remained hopelessly
stuck in the sand. At last they called Mwaka Sungula to their assistance.
Having been " squared " by a small present he went through several incantations
in the evening of the day and wound up by sprinkling the blood of a white cock
on the natives around the steamer. Next morning the steamer was afloat. The
wind had changed in the night, had blown up the water of the lake and raised
the vessel from off the sandbank. Naturally ever since all failures of Mwaka
Sungula have been forgotten in the face of this one crowning success.
Among other superstitions in Northern Nyasaland no woman will state the
name of her husband or even use a word that may be synonymous with his
name.^ If she were to call him by his proper name she considers it would be
unlucky and affect her powers of conception. In the same way the women do
not, for superstitious reasons, use the common names of articles of food but
special terms peculiar to the women's use.
The life of an African is rigidly ruled by custom. He is more of a slave to
custom than the average European. I have noticed most of the ceremonies
connected with birth, marriage, death and burial ; but all the important phases
and functions of their lives are attended with special customs, almost invariably
expressed by much dancing, and brewing, drinking, and libations of native beer.
At the beginning of the hoeing season (say October) feasts are held. In some
cases there is a " hoe " dance, wherein the dancers carry hoes which they strike
together with a musical clang, in rhythm with the beating of the drums. Beer
is brewed from various grains in great quantities and not only drunk by the
dancers but poured out on the soil in libations. Much the same is done at
harvest time. No important journey is undertaken without small sacrifices
to ancestors and consulting the oracle by means of the small *' divination "
sticks already described, which according to whether they shift their position
or not determine a man whether he shall stay or go. A snake or a hare
crossing his path at starting will turn him back ; the sight of the stinking
Ponera ant will encourage him ; still more the song of certain birds.
These negroes delight in fables and in beast stories. They may be truly
said to "speak in parables," parabolic metaphor entering largely into their
speech. In the beast stories — which are usually somewhat inane and without
a very clear point — the Hyena, the Leopard, the Jackal, the Tortoise, the Owl,
and the Hare figure principally, the Hare being usually the leading character
and taking the place of the Fox in European folk-lore for cunning and inde-
pendence of action, while the Hyena is nearly always the butt, the greedy fool
who is the victim of practical jokes. It is difficult to see how this view of the
Hare's character arose, as the African species of this animal do not strike a
European as being particularly astute or wily. These stories are very similar
to such as are found in Zululand and elsewhere in Bantu Africa.
Riddles, proverbs, and "hard sayings" are most numerous in all the
^ There is a remarkable degree of demonstrative affection between the Wankonde husband and wife,
a phase of character very rare amongst Central African negroes. This has been noticed by many travellers
— Thomson, Giraud, Nicoll, Fotheringham, Dr. Kerr Cross and myself.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 453
-languages, and are favourite exercises of ingenuity and wit Here are some
samples culled from the Rev. D. C. R. Scott's Mafianja Dictionary :
" T built my house without a door.*'
Answer: "An egg."
" My hen laid eggs in the thorns."
Answer: "The tongue between the teeth."
" The sick man does not wish to run, but when he sees this he must ; the chief who
comes to this must run whether he will or no."
Answer: "A steep descent."
"When either a man or a seed dies there grows up another." (There are as many
good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.)
In regard to their habitations : the original form of house throughout all
British Central Africa was what the majority of the houses still are — circular
and somewhat like a beehive in shape with round walls of wattle and daub and
thatched roof This style of
house is characteristic of (a)
all Africa south of the Zambezi;
{b) all British Central Africa ;
as much of the Portuguese
Provinces of Zambezia and
Mozambique as are not under
direct Portuguese or Muham-
madan influence which may
have introduced the rect-
angular dwelling ; {c) all East
Africa^ up to and including
the Egyptian Sudan, where
Arab influence has not intro-
duced the oblong rectangular
building ; {d) the Central
Nigerian Sudan, much of
Senegambia, and perhaps the
West Coast of Africa as far
east and south as the Gold
Coast, subject of course to the same limitations as to foreign influence.
But over the greater part of the Congo Basin (with a few marked exceptions
in the north-east and east of that region) and the western part of Africa down
as far south as Mossamedes, the house is rectangular in shape but sometimes
a very long building indeed or a great many houses united to form the side of a
street.^
This rectangular house in Western Africa is so universal and is found in such
remote districts as are only being entered for the first time by white men at the
present day, that it is improbable it could owe its origin to the Portuguese,
and there has been no other extraneous influence over those regions within the
historical period. Nevertheless, Portuguese influence never spread very far
beyond the coast in West Africa and there is evidence in all books of travel
^ In parts of East Africa, the normal type of house differs from the ordinary round house of Central
Africa by being more exactly beehive-like in shape, with the thatch of the roof touching the ground. See
for this the illustrations in my book on Kilimanjaro.
* Samples of these different kinds of houses are illustrated in my book on the River Congo.
A TYPICAL NATIVE HOUSE IN SOUTH NYASALAND
454
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
to show that the rectangular house was found there when the first Portuguese
explorers arrived in West Africa.
The native house of the White Nile, of Nyasaland and of Zululand is so
similar in structure that in photographs taken in these different countries it is
difficult to say to what part of East, Central or South Africa the building belongs.
But although for an ordinary dwelling this round house is universal (except
where a different style of architecture has been introduced by coast men or
Europeans), rectangular buildings are made, especially for housing cattle or
occasionally for providing a
large dormitory for the un-
married men, or a kind of
shelter under which the elders
of the village may gather.
The houses are usually con-
structed of these materials: —
A wooden framework is made
in a circle marking the size of
the hut ; it is composed of
strong poles. Around these,
split bamboos are bound trans-
versely which are tied together
tightly by wetted bark-rope on
either side of the pole they
clasp. The bamboo ribs are
close together, and the structure
resembles roughly the com-
mencement of a huge hamper.
In between the split bamboos
mud is squeezed. This mud is
usually made by women care-
fully puddling it with their feet,
and the mudding of the houses
is nearly always done by women.
In most of the houses of Nyasaland after roughly filling in the interval between
the wattles by this thick mud a further coating of mud is plastered on both
sides. This mudding is done right up to the top of the round wall. After the
first coating the mud dries ^nd cracks. The cracks are then filled up with more
mud until the surface is fairly smooth. Sometimes cow-dung or a little lime is
mixed with the outer coating of mud, and the floor may likewise be prepared
with hard mud mixed with cow-dung. The level of the house is usually slightly
raised above the surrounding ground. There is an outer circle of posts going
partly round the house which eventually constitutes a verandah, and the floor
of the verandah is also of hard mud raised about six inches to a foot above the
ground. The Wankonde build rather a special type of house. The walls are
not straight, but slope outwards from the bottom. The interstices between
the neatly-bound wattles of bamboo are filled not with an indiscriminate mass
of mud, but with round bricks of white clay, giving a much neater appearance
to the houses. The style in which these Wankonde houses are built will be
better understood by the accompanying illustration than by any further verbal
description.
When the walls of the house are complete the roof is made. Usually this
A NKONDE HOUSE
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 455
is done by constructing apart from the house a huge framework of thin poles
and bamboo, shaped like a funnel and coming to a sharp apex at the top.
When the walls of the hut are dry this skeleton roof is hoisted and poised over
them. Men then ascend and begin to cover the framework with thatch. They
commence at the bottom, usually with separate bundles of grass which are tied
on to the bamboo withes. Sometimes the thatching is very neatly executed ;
at other times a large quantity of grass seems to have been carelessly thrown on
to it ; but the disorder is more apparent than real, the outer surface of the grass
having been blown about by the winds. The well-thatched roof of a native
house is singularly rain-proof.
In larger round houses there are naturally modifications of this style of
building. There may be one or more poles of considerable height rising up
from the central part of the hut and assisting to support the roof, the rafters
of which will be the long, light, but strong midribs of the Raphia palm.
Attached to the house there is almost always a yard enclosed by a reed fence
of nearly six feet in height and communicating with the verandah. In this
yard the women do almost all their cooking. The interior of the hut is usually
divided into two sides, one called " the side for sleep," the other " the side for
the fire." The interior of the huts is very dark, because there are no windows,
and the low door admits but little light owing the overhanging eaves of the
roof round the verandah.
A wood fire is constantly burning inside the hut which gives the rafters
a black and shiny appearance and causes disagreeable cobwebs of soot to hang
from the interior of the roof
Rectangular houses of course are built in a different style ; the structure
of the roof of the house forms part of the original framework and grows
as the house grows in building. There is a little skill in joinery shown in
putting up these rectangular houses, but it must be regarded as due to the
teaching of the white man or the Arab. All fastening of poles, however,
except where foreign influence prevails, is done by lashing with bark-rope. I
think the case of native building is one of arrested development. It is
wonderful how smart they are in running up temporary houses. The forest
provides them with all they want — poles being obtained by cutting down
saplings and severing the spreading branches ; bark-rope is made by soaking
the bark in water — when it dries it contracts and therefore binds very tightly,
moreover the bark lasts undecayed for years. Bamboos which can be split
or used whole as the case may require are very useful wattles ; grass to thatch
the roof and reeds with which to make fences or gates are all at hand ; while
the nearest ant-hill will supply material for mudding the walls and making
raised seats for benches or beds.
It was reported by earlier travellers that on the east coast of Lake Nyasa
villages had been built on piles by the timid A-nyanja people who preferred
to live out in the lake to avoid the attacks of slave-raiders. I have never
succeeded in seeing any of these pile dwellings though I am told they are also
built on Lake Chiuta. When I first saw Lake Nyasa they had all disappeared,
and I found the inhabitants who dreaded the raiding of Magwangwara or
Wa-yao lived on small islands or islets where their little beehive houses were
perched amid the stones.
As a rule each grown-up individual has a house to him or her self, though
amongst very poor folk husband and wife may share the same dwelling. But
a man who has several wives will probably have a house to himself and each
456 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
of his wives will occupy her own dwelling. There is often a large house built
to be used in common by the unmarried men and boys of the village. Where
this is not the case the mother will cause a small hut to be built near to her
own to be occupied by her boy children when they are too old to share the hut
with her. Girls will probably continue to use the mother's dwelling till they
are married.
There is little or no order in which the village is built. A chief suddenly
determines to found a new settlement He starts with most of his people,
selects a site, and houses are quickly run up with little or no relation to each
other, but all tolerably close together. There is usually reserved, however,
a large space of open ground more or less in the middle of the village. This
is called in Chi-nyanja the Bwalo^ and the place selected usually has a large
and shady tree. If there is not, however (or if there is, in addition to the tree),
a rough building may be run up with open sides and grass roof, under which
shelter can be obtained from the sun during the daytime. In this open piece
of common land all the public meetings and dances take place ; and here
the "Milandu," or judicial cases are tried by the chief or headman and his
assistants.
The vicinity of native houses is usually kept fairly clean. Much of the
refuse is eaten up by village dogs, fowls, and goats, but apparently the natives
from time to time carry it away into the bush. I do not mean to state that
the lanes between the houses and their precincts are always clean, but they
are seldom encumbered by such filth as one would see in any squalid Eastern
town or village.
Interspersed amongst the houses of the village are the Mikokwe or granaries.
These are huge circular erections of basket-work plastered with mud outside
and built on a raised platform, standing on short legs made of forked branches
stuck into the ground. The platform is built in such a way as to make it
difficult for rats to ascend to the granary. The roof is funnel-shaped and
thatched. Henhouses of wicker-work are often built and are usually placed
on a raised platform. Rough dove-cots are put up for the pigeons where
these birds are kept. But the goats are either housed in a small house or hut.
In any of the places where leopards are dangerous the goats and sheep are
sheltered at night in pens made from stout planks placed side by side, with
a roof of heavy logs. The goats are let in or out by removing one or more
stakes.
The planks of the goathouse are hewn, not sawn. The native, until taught
by the European, had absolutely no idea of sawing wood, nor has he much
notion of splitting by means of wedges. He quite ignores joinery in his
furniture and all articles are hewn out of the solid block. This is the
case with his wooden spoons and ladles, his pillows or head-rests, his wooden
mortars, pestles, benches — all his simple implements and articles of furniture.
Likewise when he wishes to obtain planks for any purpose they have to be
adzed from logs of wood and are consequently very thick.
Canoes are mere dug-outs. Certain trees of the forest, such as the Parin-
ariums, are used for canoe making. A large party of men go to the forest not
far from the river bank and there cut down one of these trees in such a way
as to allow it to fall on a slope towards the water. Then they commence
to hollow it out, partly by burning and partly by incessant chipping with
their small adzes. The canoe is at last hewn into shape. If there are any
cracks in it they are covered by patches of wood which may be fastened on
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 457
by drilling holes through which leather thongs or bark strings are passed
and tightly tied. All small holes and apertures are stopped up with india-
rubber derived from the rubber vines or some other source. Smooth, lopped
branches of trees are placed on the ground as rollers and an enormous crowd
of people push the canoe down
to the water and launch it.
The canoes are worked by
punting poles and by paddles.^
Though the natives seem to
have little idea of using the
mast and sail they rapidly pick
up the notion when taught by
Arab or European.
The people of Nyasaland
and of most parts of British
Central Africa near the great
lakes or rivers become singu-
larly adept in the management
of boats and ships. All the
.seamen on the lake gunboats
are now natives of the country,
whereas formerly we imported
sailors from Zanzibar, or even
employed bluejackets from the
l^ritish Navy.^ The natives
can be taught to row well, and are very smart in managing sails. Not
infrequently the launching of a canoe is accompanied by feasts and dances and
by prayers to the ancestral spirits with their accompanying libations or sacrifices.
The large importation of European cloth has almost killed the native
weaving industry. Before the advent of Europeans they wove — and in outlying
districts they still weave — very coarse- textured cotton cloth. As is probably
well known to my readers the cotton plant grows wild or semi-wild over large
portions of this country and the cotton produced is
excellent. It is spun by the natives and woven by
them in the following manner: — A frame is made
of two heavy smooth bars of wood supported at either
end by a couple of short posts which bifurcate. The
beams are steadied and fastened to the ground by
pegs. The cotton threads are then stretched across
the frame lengthwise, from end to end. The alternate
threads are "locked" on a smooth stick (ordinarily a
bamboo). When these alternate threads are raised a
long bamboo shuttle with the cotton thread wound
round the end is passed between the upper and lower
threads and the cross -thread is tapped up tightly by
another smooth bamboo. The cloth is usually finished
with a fringe.
NATIVES MAKING A PRONE TREE TRUNK INTO A CANOE
A RIVER PILOT
(Mnyanja, of the Lower Shire)
' Outriggers are ignored. All canoes are of rough construction, simple dug-outs, and have no seats,
no elaboration, no ornament. Punting poles {mapondo) are usually of bamboo and are much used in
shallow rivers.
* We only employ naval seamen now as petty officers.
458
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Baskets of many kinds and shapes are made. There is the mtanga, a
basket made by weaving flat strips of cane or wood over a framework of more
rigid circles of wood which are sometimes the midribs of palm fronds, some-
times split and pared bamboos. This style of basket usually has a solid wooden
rim of some flexible white wood. Then there are large flat baskets of tightly-
plaited straw with a firm rim of wood, which are used for winnowing meal.
Small baskets are made for holding all manner of food, grain, eggs, etc. Some
WEAVING IN ANGONILAND
of these baskets, especially in , cattle-keeping countries, are so admirably and
tightly plaited that they will hold milk. Enormously large baskets, shaped
somewhat like a demijohn, are closely woven and in addition are smeared with
sticky, rubber-like juice derived from the roots of a shrub, and are then imper-
vious to water. These baskets are used for holding beer. Some baskets of
plaited straw are made to fit into one another so that one acts as a cover to the
other. A somewhat flattened form, known amongst the A-nyanja and Wa-yao
as mtungwi, is made out of a soft, flexible wood in two pieces, one of which is
slightly scooped out to form the bottom of the basket, and the other, a broad
strip of wood, is bent round and attached to the sides of this flat piece so that
one half of the basket is thus formed. The sides are often beautifully decorated
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 459
by staining the white wood black and then cutting away portions, leaving a
raised pattern of black on white. Occasionally these bands of thin wood are
attached to baskets which have bottoms of plaited straw. Sometimes sandals
are made of basket-work.
Pottery, like many other arts in Central Africa, has retrogressed from a once
higher standard to a low one. The old earthenware we dig up from time to
time is superior in design, shape,
and finish to the native pottery of
the present day. The women are
the potters. The best pottery is
made at the north end of Lake
Nyasa, on German territory, by the
Ba-kese people. The kind of pottery
ordinarily made is : — {a) cooking
pots — wide mouth, no neck, sides
nearly perpendicular ; {b) porridge
pots — shaped very similarly ; {c)
large ovoid beer pots — shaped like
^^ ^^^ with the pointed end cut
off; (d) water jars — with a **neck"
broadening into an everted rim ;
{e) round pots with a hole at the weaving on the nvasa-tanganyika plateau
top : some of these have a short
narrow neck ; (/) many kinds of small pots resembling the preceding some-
what in shape — used for storing medicines, condiments, fat and salt ; {g) saucers
and pans ; (Jt) the bowls of pipes. Some of the smaller ware is coloured with
red oxide or a black glaze. The inscribed patterns are not of any elaborate
design and much of the pottery is without any ornamentation. Such decoration
as there is, is either made by cutting marks into the soft clay with a sharp
pointed stick or else painting a design in black or red. After the pot is finished
it is put in the sun to dry for a day or so and is then burnt in a wood fire.
String is fabricated by the natives from the fibre of a Hibiscus shrub, from
plaiting palm leaves, from the skins of animals, from bark and above all from
the leaves of the Hyphaene fan palms.^
The strands of the fibre of such shrubs and plants as are made into string
are rolled by the hand on the thigh. String is sometimes made in this way
from cotton, especially for stringing beads or ornaments.
Bowstrings are- usually formed of thin strips of skin, softened, pulled out,
and tightly twisted. Gut is sometimes used for this purpose also. Fishing nets
are made of string, usually string of Hibiscus fibre. They are sometimes of
fine mesh and are very strong.
The Rev. D. C. R. Scott states in his Dictionary, that the Wambo tribe
of A-nyanja, living to the south-east of the Protectorate, are able to construct
wooden locks and keys. The keys have teeth of two or three inches ; when
they turn they move a wooden bolt into its place. It is probable that these
locks and keys are not of indigenous invention but are derived from the teach-
ing of the Portuguese.
Skins are dressed in an elementary manner. They are pegged out to dry ;
most of the thicker part of the hide and the tendons are removed by scraping
^ This palm is singularly useful. From its leaves are made mats, baskets and head coverings, besides
many kinds of string and stout rope for tying fences.
46o BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
with a knife, and the skin is then well rubbed with earth and water and made
thoroughly soft. Although the country abounds with acacia trees which would
provide bark for tanning purposes, I have never heard of it or any other form of
tan being used by the natives for curing skins ; except on the Lower Shire
where they have been taught by the Portuguese, and where some native leather
workers make excellent boots and shoes. Leather is not used for as many
purposes as might be imagined. Skins are dressed in order to be worn on the
body and are occasionally used as mats.
Drums are covered with skins from which all the hair has been emoved.
Sometimes the outside of the drum is very neatly covered with ox-hide which
retains the hair, and has been stretched over the body of the drum whilst still
moist.
For the smaller drums, skin of the monitor lizards ( Varanus), or of snakes.
^> V v-^";vvv*V;^^:^\,> ;>:t^
WOMAN MAKING PO'IS
is used. Often a piece of india-rubber is worked into the leather covering^of
the drum as it is supposed to give greater resonance.
Dyes are obtained from certain roots and leaves but are not much used In
adorning the person a red ointment is often made from clay impregnated with
red oxide of iron, which is found in the river valleys. This red oxide is often
mixed with the clay of their pottery and gives it a beautiful Indian red tint.
Copper and iron are almost the only metals worked in British Central Africa,
though lead is said to be used by the Yao for making small plugs to go
through the wing of the nose in women. This they probably obtain from
leaden bullets or from lead bought at the European stores. I have not yet
heard that lead is found and smelted in British Centraf Africa. I doubt
whether copper is actually obtained by the natives from the soil in British
territory though it is certainly worked in great quantities in the region of
Katanga to the north, and possibly in some of the Zambezi countries to the
west. If copper is worked at all within the territory under description it would
be in the mountains to the west of Lake Nyasa. There are evidences of its
presence in the rocks. But the copper of Katanga finds its way down in large
quantities to the tribes of British Central Africa and many of them are very
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 461
PIPES FOR HEMP AND TOBAQCO.
I. Wooden pipe for tobacco, and clay, skin-covered bowl of anotlier tobacco pipe.
3. Pipe for smoking hetnp, with wooden mouthpiece and bamboo receptacle.
3 Hemp pipe with ebony mouthpiece and handle ; receptacle of eland's horn.
462
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
$^l|W%^i
CENTRAL AFRICAN WEAPONS, ETC.
1. A Nkonde shield.
2. A bow from the Marimba district.
3. An ordinary Central African bow.
4. A Yao knife,
5. An Achewa axe.
6. Various arrows and arrow-heads.
7. A Yao knife and scabbard (haft of knife and
scabbard made of wood).
8. A common axe for felling timber.
9. Various spears.
10. A stabbing spear (assegai).
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 463
skilful in using it for ornamental purposes on the handles of their spears and
axes.
Over the greater part of Nyasaland, however, brass is of more common use
for decorative purposes than copper. All the brass in Central Africa must, of
course, be procured from the outer world, from the Europeans or Indians
trading on the coast, as there is no race in Africa which combines zinc and
copper to make brass. Nevertheless, this amalgam may be found in use among
African tribes that have never seen a white man, possibly never even heard of a
white race. It is like tobacco and Indian com : articles which have defied all
obstacles and have swept across Africa and into its darkest recesses in two or
three centuries. But if the native of British Central Africa cannot make brass
he can work it into all manner of things from the rough form in which it is
introduced in the course of trade. Brass wire of various thicknesses is made
in the following manner : — After cutting the brass (which may have arrived in
thick coils a quarter of an inch in diameter, or in rods or buttons or in other
forms) into convenient sized bits the metal is put into the forge and smelted.
When it is thoroughty fused in a mass and has cooled down, the metal-worker
beats it out until it is in very long thin strips. One end of a strip is then seized
with pliers and is forcibly drawn through a plate of iron which is pierced with
a number of holes of graduated sizes. The strip of brass is first dragged
through the largest hole. Then the end is beaten and pointed and dragged
through the second hole. The iron plate in which the holes are pierced is
generally fixed in the fork of a tree so that it may be pulled against from the
other side with great force without being dislodged. As the wire is pulled it is
being wound round a neighbouring branch or sapling. From time to time the
brass is dipped into oil and passed through smaller and smaller holes until the
wire is of the necessary fineness. Molten brass is also hammered out and
shaped into bracelets and necklets, or is made into rings for the ears or fingers.
On the Lower Shire and Zambezi the brass work is extraordinarily good ; the
handles of spears or walking-sticks will be beautifully worked with a filigree of
brass wire.
Though gold may be present in the rocks of British Central Africa, or even
found alluvial here and there, it is not known to the natives except as an
introduced article. But within the watershed of the Zambezi the negroes have
for untold centuries collected the alluvial gold, and, under Portuguese tuition,
they have learned to do goldsmiths* work with extraordinary skill and delicacy.
This art even extends to British territory on the Lower Shire. Here the natives
will make exquisitely fine gold chains, scarcely thicker than a stout thread,
besides finger rings in which an elephant's hair is often enclosed.
Iron ore is dug and smelted in a furnace, which is made of clay and is let
down into a hole in the ground. Above this cavity they build up a clay wall
all round the edges till it appears to form a huge chimney. A tunnel is dug
from the surface of the ground down to the bottom of the bed where the
charcoal is laid and ignited. The iron ore is put into the clay furnace. A
goat-skin bellows^ with a stone nozzle is then plied vigorously till the charcoal
is in a white heat. The clay chimney conserves the heat and the iron is
smelted. Then it is taken out and hammered. After that it is removed
to the forge and worked in a somewhat similar manner with a charcoal fire
blown by bellows of goat-skin. The ore is hammered by rude iron hammers
* I have seen bellows in West Africa made of banana leaves, and no doubt other substances are used
besides skin.
464
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
on an iron or stone anvil and is laid hold of by iron pincers. In spite of the
inefficient implements with which the native works his iron he achieves extra-
ordinary results. When these people are instructed by a European smith, and
have a proper forge to work at, their skill is quite remarkable. The chief things
made of iron are spears, knives, axes, arrow-heads, musical instruments known
as "Sansi," hoes, tools for working metal, and various articles used as ornaments.
The musical instruments are the drum ; the horn ; a viol-like instrument
called the " Pango " ;^ a " limba " ; a " kalirangwe," a one-stringed banjo ; a kind
of wooden piano ; a flute ; and an instrument called in Nyasaland a " sansi,"^
which I here illustrate.
Drums are of nine or ten kinds. One is often as much as five feet long.
It may be supported on a rest made of a forked stick, or a man may straddle
across the lower end of it with a leather band going round his waist, so that
he holds up the drum while it is beaten by his hands. Other smaller
drums are held under the arm, or slung round the chest. In some cases the
drums are beaten with drum-sticks, but more often they are struck with the
fingers. Sometimes they are constructed in rather a graceful shape like a huge
cup or calyx of a flower standing
upright. A drum of this descrip-
tion will be probably encased in
hide with the hair remaining on
it, and ornamented by strings
and strips and loops of twisted
skin. Although ordinarily stand-
ing on its smaller end this drum
is generally supported on a man's
stomach, with the skin loops
round his neck while it is being
played. Some of the little
drums that are held under the
arm are not more than eighteen
inches long. They are often
covered with Varanus lizard
skin. The parchment of the
larger drums is made of the
skin of various mammals, ox-
hide being used for the largest
The skin is, of course, entirely
free of hair, and is very tightly
stretched over the mouth of the
hollow wooden tube. Frequently
they put dabs of india-rubber
in the centre, as I have already
stated.
Natives have a r^ular
" Morse " system of communication by drum taps, so that they can send
messages to one another at distances of a mile or under.
Trumpets are made of elephant tusks in the countries to the north and west.
I give here an illustration of a Mu-lungu of South Tanganyika blowing an
* These names are the Chi-nyanja forms, common however to many of the other tongues of British
Central Mrica. * In Chi-yao, lulimba ; the " Marimba" of the Congo and Angola.
ANGONI DANCER AND DRUM PLAYERS
't-
A MU-LUNGU OF SOUTH TANGANYIKA BLOWING IVORY TRUMPET MADE OF
AN elephant's tusk
30
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENT
AFRICA 467
ivory horn. But with the increasing value and scarceness of ivory these
trumpets have passed out of use in Nyasaland, where they chiefly use the
horns of the kudu, eland, or reed-buck.
The pan^o is made thus:— -A long broad slip of wood is passed through
a large hollow gourd which is carefully cut in half A bridge is fixed trans-
versely across this flat piece of wood, and four or five strings are then strung
over the bridge and fastened at either end with a piece of wood which traverses
the gourd or sounding-board. This instrument, which in a rude way answers
to a fiddle, is played with a bow, and that is generally a piece of split and
smoothed bamboo or stout reed. The bow is smeared with wax.
The limda slightly resembles the guitar. It usually has six strings, and
is strung somewhat like a violin in appearance. The strings are struck with the
thumb-nails.
The kalirangwe is a one-stringed instrument stretched over a gourd-
resonator. The string is twisted fibre dipped into melted wax. It is either
played by twanging it with the fingers or with a reed-bow.
The " wooden-piano," as I call it for want of a better word, is rather a large
instrument and is generally placed on the ground, the person who wishes to
play squatting down before it. It consists of long slabs like huge " keys," made
of the wood of the Mbwabwa tree. These slabs are laid athwart two long
pieces of wood, and are kept in their places by wooden pegs on either side.
When struck with a baton, being very resonant, they give out musical sounds,
and as they are of different sizes and degrees of thickness appear to almost
constitute a gamut. They are usually five or six in number, but may be more
numerous. The instrument which I have illustrated, and which is known
in Nyasaland as the Sansiy has a
sounding-board of some hard wood,
presumably ebony. Slips of smooth
welded iron with a slight upward
turn and flattened out at the musical
end, are fastened to the top of the
instrument and are raised up over
the bridge. In some of the elaborate
Sansis (only to be found now in the
more remote interior, where native
arts are carefully preserved) there
are a great many of these iron keys
— perhaps over forty — placed in
separate rows ; but ordinarily the
instrument is as I have drawn it,
with one row of keys graduated in
size and length. The Sansi is played
by the thumbs pressing down and
releasing the flattened ends of the
iron keys, the fingers being employed
to hold the sounding-board. There
are many melodies in the minor key
(sounding somewhat like a Jews* harp) obtained from the Sansi, which is one
of the most pleasing of all African musical instruments. The Sansi is some-
times made with keys of bamboo instead of iron. Slips of bamboo are pared
down and fastened to the sounding-board much in the same way as the iron keys.
468 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA .
The flute is made of a hollow reed. This is an instrument which is very
rarely seen nowadays in the better known parts of the country, but it is still met
with in Yao-land, in the countries to the west of Lake Nyasa, and in all the
regions where the cheap penny whistles of the white trader have not penetrated
The Rev. D. C. R. Scott states that in former days the big chiefs of Nyasaland
used to have bands of performers on the flute which accompanied the armies
to the battle-field much as the fifes in a fife and drum band.
In addition to these regular musical instruments the native delights in the
use of rattles which are made of hard seeds and pieces of wood and are hung
round the ankles, the armpits, or the waist ; or are shaken by the hands ; or
a small gourd may be filled with pellets or seeds and rattled.
Music is one of the many arts in which the negro has degenerated. There
is evidence that before the coming of white men to these countries bringing
the abominable concertina, panpipes, penny whistle, and harmonium, the
natives played more musical instruments of their own than they do now,
and thought much more of native music.
The administration of justice has already been touched upon to some extent
in the reference to the trials by ordeal. The headman of the village in council,
the petty chief of the district and his headman, and the supreme chief of the
country (if there be one) try cases according to their importance, give decisions
and enforce them. In the case of powerful chiefs like Mpezeni, Chikusi,^
Chiwere, Mombera^ of the Angoni, the Kazembe of Lunda, Ketiamkulu^ of the
Awemba, the power would be more or less autocratic, and the chief would
probably give decisions and execute sentences without consulting his subrchiefs ;
but smaller chiefs do not rule so despotically and seldom arrive at any im-
portant decision without being in accord with their advisers.
In every important village there is usually an open space with a shady tree
in the middle or some other shelter from the sun, and here the cases are tried
by the Village Council or the Chief alone. In a civil case the plaintiff* and
defendant set forth their case, each in his turn, and do not interrupt one another
more than they would do in a civilised Court. Then various Elders, or men of
mark,2 gjyg their views on the subject, arguing on one side or the other, and the
chief pronounces his decision. Sometimes the defeated party appeals to the
bigger chief or, if it is a serious case, secedes from the community sooner than
abide by the decision, and runs away to the court of another potentate.
Ordinarily, however, the decision given at these trials is accepted. Where
it is a criminal case it is often referred to the poison ordeal, from which the
prisoner emerges with declared innocence after vomiting the dose, or either dies
from the poisonous draught which his stomach cannot reject, or is done to death
by the onlookers when his guilt is made manifest by the inability to vomit
This form of trial is often resorted to in serious cases involving capital punish-
ment, as the chief usually shrinks from pronouncing a death sentence unless he
is a blood-thirsty despot of considerable power who delights in cruelty ; in
which case he will kill or mutilate for his own good pleasure, not necessarily for
the execution of the judicial sentence.^
Minor ordeals may be undergone, such as plunging the hand into boiling
1 Now dead.
' In the case of a woman, she generally chooses a male advocate to plead her cause: usually a relation,
' In the Alunda and Awemba countries a great deal of mutilation goes on — hands are lopped off, ears
or noses removed for trivial offences.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 469.
water, to prove innocence from charges of stealing, adultery, and so on. The
native, as I have said, shrinks from the responsibility of pronouncing a death
sentence, but once such a decision is given the thirst for bloodshed is aroused
and the execution is usually a cruel one. Persons who have been unsuccessful
in the Muavi ordeal, or who are otherwise sentenced to death, are often killed
by a general assault of the surrounding crowd who stab, hack, stamp on, kick,
and smother the wretched victim, usually ending by cutting off the head, and,
in the case of sorcerers, burning the body. In executions conducted more
soberly by persons whom the chief deputes to inflict the death sentence, the
convict has his throat cut or is stabbed with a spear. I do not remember to have
heard in this part of Africa of any cases of hanging or strangling. It is said
that in some of these countries criminals are crucified. I fancy this is a custom
more of the Zambezi Valley or of the extreme west of British Central Africa
than attributable to the eastern part of the territory which I am describing.^
Small cases are generally dealt with summarily by the chiefs or elders, who
usually give wise decisions. The regular judicial trials take a longer time and
there is a great deal of forensic eloquence displayed, not only by the parties to
the case but by the bench of magistrates, who, with the exception of the chief,
are mostly partizans. Some of the speaking is remarkably good — the argument
being subtle, well sustained and copiously illustrated by analogies and references
to other cases. A speaker will at times lash himself into a simulated fury, but
the proceedings as a rule are orderly.
These trials are called in Chi-nyanja Milandu ; in Chi-yao, Magambo ; and
in Iki-nkonde, Amasyo, These words are soon only too familiar to the European
travelling through the country. Any subject of dispute is called a " Mlandu " ;
and amongst a litigious people not standing in awe of the European the
traveller will constantly be harassed by threats to bring him up before the chief
or magistrate to cause him to be mulcted for some imaginary grievance.
War may be suddenly waged without warning and without reason. Petty
warfare may be constantly carried on between the border villages of two chiefs
who are on unfriendly terms, without the main forces of the countries becoming
involved. In such cases men from one or other village will hide in the bush
outside the place they wish to annoy, and attack unarmed persons, killing them
if they are men, and carrying them off if they are women.
If one chief resolves to proceed to war with another he usually sends
a messenger stating his cause of complaint and offering the offending chief
a bullet (or where guns are not used, a spear) or a hoe. The chief thus
addressed will retain the bullet and send back the hoe, if he takes up the
challenge and is prepared for war ; if not he returns the bullet and thus implies
that he intends to yield to the demands made of him. Or a defiant potentate
may simply send to another ruler bullets or spear-heads as an insolent provoca-
tion. When we were having our difficulties with the slave-raiding chiefs on the
borders of the Protectorate they were always sending me iron bullets, generally
by persons whom they had kidnapped for the purpose of carrying back this
challenge.
When war is inevitable preparations are made for it by drumming, dancing,
beer drinking, high feeding and the making of war medicine which is usually
hung about the person in amulets of horn. The forces then advance to the
attack.
* In the Niger Delta I have several times noticed cases of men or women who were sentenced to death,
being tied by stout ropes round the trunk of a tree and left there to die of hunger and thirst.
470 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
If it be warfare with the Angoni or the Awemba against some weaker tribe
it means that a relatively large force will sally out to attack a small village.
They will creep up to it during the night and deliver the attack at earliest
dawn, endeavouring to surmount the defences of the place and enter it before
the inhabitants are fully awake ; for even in times of warfare all Africans are
singularly negligent about keeping watch. Having entered the town they slay
and pursue as hard as they can to keep the people whom
they are attacking in a demoralised state, unable to con-
centrate and make a stand. As quickly as possible, to
add to the panic, they set fire to the buildings. Then they
commence to loot and capture the women and children
whom, together with the cattle and ivory and other
valuable goods, they carry off.
The Wa-yao do not much care for attacking a well-
defended place; they prefer bush fighting, as they possess
guns nowadays almost universally, whereas the Angoni
and Awemba are chiefly armed with spears, clubs and
assegais. The Yao are rather cunning in tactics, and have
a great idea of surrounding the enemy. When attacking
ANGONI WARRIORS they crawl on their stomachs or run with the body bent,
taking advantage of cover as much as possible. Having
dropped on one knee, and fired their guns, they hastily retreat and reload whilst
another rank takes their place in firing. Behind cover such as boulders or trees
the Yao will fight obstinately ; in the open he is a coward, as he feels himself
justly to be at a disadvantage. The Angoni and Awemba, on the contrary, like
a clear open space in which to fight, and the former adopt to some extent Zulu
tactics. They put several or many thousand men in the field. Their " impi " has
a central attacking force, and two wings or horns to endeavour to envelop the
enemy. As they are practically without guns this is a policy they can pursue
more easily than people like the Yao who fight with firearms, and who might be
shooting at each other and wounding their own men if they fought in a circle.
It is doubtful whether in this part of Africa great loss of life occurs
in any of the wars amongst the natives. The party that has least
stomach for the fight is so good at running away and can so soon get
out of range of the guns, spears, assegais or arrows of the attacking
party that not many dead bodies are usually left on the field of battle.
As a rule, the lives of women are spared, as they are valuable captures;*
but whilst the battle fury rages I am afraid little heed is paid to the sex
of the flying enemy, the conquerors being only too anxious to signalise
their victory by killing. The bodies of the slain are invariably mutilated.
Heads are cut off to be hung on poles round the stockade of the chiefs
town, or otherwise displayed as relics in the vicinity of his dwelling.
Bodies of men are further mutilated, and the parts cut off are also
hung up for display. All loot is, theoretically, given up to the chief,
who reserves a proportion for himself and distributes the rest amongst
his soldiers.
If it is a drawn battle, or the defeat of the retreating party has not *
been conclusive, and prisoners of importance have been taken on both ^'
sides their lives are generally spared and they are reserved for exchange
and for use as hostacres. A defeated chief who seeks peace from his head stuck
ON A POLS
* Either as wives for the captor, as slaves, or as hostages for peace n^otiations. ^tivb"war
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 471
conqueror and desires to tender his submission sends word that he wishes " to
catch his leg," and, if the conqueror consents, this ceremonial act of homage is
performed and peace is declared. Sometimes tribes that have been savagely
fighting with all the horrors and barbarities of such warfare a few days prior
to the conclusion of peace, will become quite sentimental, patch up a friendship,
and chiefs and headmen will exchange daughters or sisters as wives, and their
peoples mingle with joyous expressions of goodwill, while the decaying heads
and other relics of the mutilated dead still remain on exhibition.
These negroes have clear ideas of property. The waste land is usually
considered to belong to the chief, but plantations and enclosures belong
personally to the individual who originally made them, or who has inhabited
them. Private property also includes all movables in the possession of the
individual who originally acquired them. Sometimes land is held to belong to
the tribe or to a certain family rather than to the supreme chief The natives
have a clear idea of the boundaries of large or small estates, or of their king-
doms ; and in the case of the former they are marked by the planting of certain
trees of quick growth, while of course streams and mountain ranges are recog-
nised as boundaries and natural limits of territories.
The laws of inheritance are by no means uniform. Amongst the tribes in
North Nyasa property descends from a man who has died to the brother next
to him in age. If there are no more brothers the eldest nephew follows the
uncle.
Amongst the Anyanja .the sons usually divide the father's or mother's
property. In the case of the Yao a woman usually leaves her property
amongst her sons and daughters. In the case of a man the right to his
chieftainship or personal property usually passes to his eldest sister's son or
to any other descendants of his other sisters (in order of seniority) who may
be living. In fact amongst the Wa-yao succession is almost always on the
female side. The women may not, theoretically, govern (though they often
do so practically) but at the same time the right to govern can only pass
through the sister and mother ; thus when Makanjira I. died the successor was
not one of his sons, but his nephew — son of one of his sisters. This man
again left the chieftainship to his sister's son, and so on.
This custom also obtains amongst some of the North-West Nyasa people.
All Africans are fond of trade. Commerce has a great attraction for them
and it is thought to be a bad policy on the part of a chief to drive away trade
by deeds of injustice or rapine. The men and women both make long journeys
to sell their goods, the men always travelling farther. Salt is hawked about
the country — also tobacco, smoke-dried fish, the material for various medicines,
and charms (such as crocodile's liver), fowls, goats and sheep, cloth, beads and
other trade goods. Nothing, probably, except ivory or gunpowder is sold by
weight — and the sale of these articles is usually in foreign hands (Arabs.
Europeans, or half-castes) — natives usually sell by measures of length and
capacity. Salt will be sold by the bag — generally of regular bulk and
weight — grain or flour by measure of capacity which can be gauged by the
hand ; cloth is measured by the arm — the commonest measure being
the ell, from the point of the elbow to the end of the second finger, or from
the end of the second finger to the wrist, or along the outstretched arms from
finger tip to finger tip across the chest Beads would be sold by the bunch ;
other articles that could not be sold by measure would be valued by number
and in some cases by divisions or subdivisions.
472
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Such is the Negro of South Central Africa. I have endeavoured to place
before the reader an accurate summing up of his physical and mental character-
istics. He is a fine animal, but in his wild state exhibits a stunted mind and a
dull content with his surroundings which induces mental stagnation, cessation
of all upward progress, and even of retrogression towards the brute. In some
respects I think the tendency of the negro for several centuries past has been
an actually retrograde one. As we come to read the unwritten history of
Africa by researches into languages, manners, customs, traditions, we seem to
see a backward rather than a forward movement going on for some thousand
years past — a return towards the savage and even the brute. I can believe it
possible that had Africa been more isolated from contact with the rest of the
world, and cut off from the immigration of the Arab and the European, the
purely negroid races, left to themselves, so far from advancing towards a higher
type of humanity, might have actually reverted by degrees to a type no longer
human, just as those great apes lingering in the dense forests of Western Africa,
into which they are, relatively speaking, quite recent immigrants from Asia and
Europe, have become in many respects degraded types that have known better
days of larger brains and smaller tusks and stouter legs. Fortunately for the
black man, in all his varieties but two or three of the most retrograde, he is not
too far gone for recovery and for an upward turn upon the evolutionary path —
a turn which, if resolutely followed, may with steady strides bring him upon a
level at some future day with the white and yellow species of man.
* YOUNG AFRICA
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 473
APPENDIX
DISEASES OF THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
By dr. D. KERR CROSS, M.B.^
DISEASES OF THE SKIN.
These are very prevalent, owing to the want of cleanliness, etc.
I. Eczema. — Mostly brought on by excessive scratching.
II. Urticaria. — Very common amongst the natives. It is like a nettle rash.
Characterized by great itchiness and evanescence. Due to errors in diet. Some people
cannot eat certain seeds.
III. Boils and Carbuncles. — Caused by micro-organisms. Very common amongst
the natives. Boils appear in the arm-pit and groin. They say if they have boils they
have no fever.
IV. Tropical Sloughing Phaged^ena. — Caused by micro-organisms. The same
as Mogambique Ulcer, etc., etc. — a sloughing ulcer, due to bad food, etc.
V. Pemphigus Contagiosus. — Caused by micro-organisms. Seen in damp
tropical countries. Begins as a bulla, or even a papule, then becomes a contagious
sore.
Diseases of the Skin due to Animal Parasites.
Lia (i) on the body, (2) head, (3) pubis.
Jigger or sand flea.
House-bug {Acanthta leciularid),
Ifwingire, — Not mentioned in any book. It is from the word " Ingira," to enter. It
is due to maggots in the tissues. Native children suffer greatly. I have seen the whole
side of a child riddled with holes. These maggots are common in dogs and antelopes.
The Itch, — Native name, Pere. Most common. Due to the female Acarus Scabiei
burrowing in the skin, and laying her eggs.
Mosquitoes. — There are very many varieties. They are so bad during the wet season
that the Awanyakyusa work all night and sleep all day. Their tissues afford the second
stage in the life history of the three low forms of life found in the blood of man — the
Fiiaria sanguinis homininis diurnus ; Do, do, nocturnus^ and Do. do. perstans. This
leads to
(i) Elephantiasis of Scrotum and leg and breast. One year I removed at the north
end of Lake Nyasa eleven tumours of this disease weighing from 52 lbs. to 7 lbs.
This disease is very common amongst the Wanyakyusa., These filarial worms have
a remarkable periodicity.
(2) Orchitis, — This is also very common. Almost every man has abnormally large
tesricles due to this. I have removed two weighing 3 lbs. and 2 J lbs. respectively.
(3) Chyluria. — It is a white urine.
(4) Varicose groin glands. — The glands in the groin are like walnuts or small crab-
apples.
(5) Lymph scrotum.
Ticks are troublesome before the rains.
Leeches, — In marshes.
* For ten years a medical missionary in North Nyasaland.
474 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Diseases of the Skin due to Vegetable Parasites.
Very prevalent. Due to heat, moisture, habits of people, racial proclivities, etc,
(i) Tropical Ringworm, — Due to a fungus. Found on the body. It may, in the
case of a native, extend over the whole body. Seen on the body, on the head, and
on the hands. I have never seen a case of Guinea-worm.
Keloid. — Is very common. The tissues of the negro seem to have a tendency
to take on a keloid (or, as some call it, a false keloid) growth. That is to say,
cicatricial tissue grows large. If a native gets a cut, it becomes like a tumour or a new
growth. If he has been vaccinated, the mark rises up like a two-shilling piece. If he
tatoos himself, the surface becomes a series of little growths protruding above the
general level of the skin.
Leucoderma is an extremely interesting form of disease that is found at the north.
It consists of the hands being white, or covered with great patches of white. The lips
may be white also, so too may the feet, and there may be white patches on the breast.
The natives say it is due to their eating a certain kind of fish. They say many people
can eat the fish with impunity, but that if others eat they are seized with this disease.
Cancer is not very common. Shortly before I left for home a woman came into
my dispensary with cancer of the left breast. She had come from beyond Lake Mweni
— 450 miles.
GENERAL DISEASES.
Rheumatic Fever. — Is very common. Many of their joints are affected by this
disease.
Chronic Articular Rheumatism.
Gonorrhceal Arthritis. — This is a form of Synovitis which occurs as a sequel to
Gonorrhoea. I have seen it several times in Mlozi's Village.
Sunstroke. — Have seen it in certain forms amongst natives. Have also seen it
once in its worst form in one European, when the subject was unconscious for nine days.
SPECIFIC DISEASES.
Small Pox. — A specific, contagious, eruptive fever. Is endemic in some localities.
Whooping Cough. — This is not very prevalent, but I have sometimes had children
with cases at my dispensary.
Malarial Fevers. — Most prevalent. All natives suffer. I divide them thus : —
I. Forms of Malarial Fever without marked fever or Apyrexial Forms,
(i) Malarial Diarrhoea.
(2) Malarial Dysentery. Not responsive to Ipecacuanha, but to Quinine and
Perchloride of Iron.
(3) Malarial Ulcers may be in crops of pimples, or one sore the size of a shilling,
or a large sore like the palm of the hand.
When the sufferer has a sore he has no fever, and via versd,
{a) Malarial paleness or cachexia.
(5) Malarial Headaches, Neuralgias, and other nervous disorders.
II. Intermittent Forms, Forms which relax at intervals,
(i) Intermittent, with Delirium.
(*)
Convulsions.
(3)
Complete Insensibility.
(4)
Excessive Shivering.
(5)
Biliousness.
(6)
Dysentery.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 475
III. Remittent Forms. These only relax a little, but the temperature never goes
down to the normal
(i) Mild Remittent. Only feverish for days.
(2) Bilious „
(3) Gastric „
(4) Cerebral „
(5) Algic
(6) Typhoid „
(7) Black Water, or Bilious Haemoglobinuric.
Dysentery. — A specific, febrile disease, characterized by inflammation of the
mucous coat and glands of the lower bowel.
Leprosy is very common all over Africa in both forms, tubercular and nerve. As
long as the natives disregard all forms of segregation this disease will continue to
abound.
Syphilis. — In all its stages very prevalent. I have often treated from ten to twenty
cases a day. Natives call it the Disease of the Arabs.
Where Malaria abounds there seems to be a remarkable immunity from the other
fevers.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.
The Teeth seem to be affected by some chemicals in the water in Africa.
Parasitic Stomatitis. — Very common in unhealthy children.
Gastritis is very common amongst Europeans and natives.
Dyspepsia is very common. When we consider the food of the natives, the
manner of its being cooked, and the way they masticate it, we cannot wonder at there
being Dyspepsia.
Pyrosis.
Inflammation of the Bowels.
DiARRHCEA.
Constipation. — Not very common in natives.
Ascites. — Dropsy of the Peritoneal Cavity.
Peritonitis. — Inflammation of the Peritoneum.
Abdominal Tumours. — Carcinoma of the Bowel is known. The spleen is often
enormously enlarged.
The Uterus and Ovaries are affected somewhat
DISEASES OF THE LIVER.
Congestion is common.
Hepatic Abscess. — Often in conjunction with Dysentery. Common amongst
Europeans and natives.
Hydatids of the Liver. — This organ is more frequently infested with Hydatids
than any other organ of the body. The cyst may be the size of a cherry, or that of
a boy's head.
Jaundice. — A symptom more than a disease.
476 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
INTESTINAL WORMS.
Tape Worms are very common. At least three diflferent varieties are found.
Round Worms. — There are a number of varieties. At least one Liver Parasite is
common — the Bilhartzia Hamatrobia^ which is the cause of what is known as the
Bilhartzia disease. Endemic haematuria is somewhat common amongst the north end
people, and due to the presence of this worm.
FiLARiA SANGUINIS HOMiNis is a nematode worm, and is the cause of much trouble,
as is indicated under " Mosquito."
DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
Acute Laryngitis.
Bronchitis is not very common either in its acute or chronic forms. The people
live too much in the open air for this disease to find a nidus.
Acute Pneumonia is- common during the cold season, or at the beginning of the
rains. I had a few cases every year.
Pulmonary Tubercular Phthisis. — In all my experience I have only had one
genuine case. Malarial fever seems to immunise the country from the tubercular
bacillus.
Acute Pleurisy.
Chronic Pleurisy.
Hydro- and Pneumo-Thorax.
DISEASES OF THE VASCULAR SYSTEM.
Valvular Diseases are not very common.
Dilatation.
Degeneration of the Muscular Walls.
Aneurism.
Exophthalmic Goitre.
ANiCMiA, or deficiency of blood, is rather common.
Chlorosis is common in many girls.
DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN.
Hypertrophy of the Spleen is very common.
Goitre or enlargement of the thyroid gland. I have seen this very often in Mlozi's
village. I never saw any of the north end natives suffering from it.
DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS.
Acute Tubal Nephritis.
Chronic Tubal Nephritis.
Renal Calculus.
Uremia. — Nervous symptoms supervening on suppression of the Urine.
HiEMATURiA. — Blood in the Urine.
Paroxysmal H^emoglobinuria.
NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 477
Chyluria. — I have seen some cases of this disease among the natives. It is white
urine, and is due to chyle or lymph being present. It is caused by obstruction
and rupture of the lymphatics; also by the presence of the nematoid worm, Filaria
sanguinis hominis. To me this is a most wonderful worm. The embryo is sucked
from the blood of man by a female mosquito, and enters the stomach of the same.
There it develops an alimentary canal, and an instrument for boring. By-and-bye
the mosquito dies, and falls on water, but the parasite is not dead. It sleeps till it
reaches a human stomach by the medium of drinking water. From there it travels
through the tissues to the lymph vessels of the human being, where it becomes
sexually mature, and breeds. It lies in one of the lymph vessels, and may measure
from 3 inches to 6 inches long. The embryos of this worm are only seen active in the
blood at night, and may be present in the human being to the extent of millions.
There is another form of embryo that is only seen active by day, and a third is seen
active at all hours of the day or night.
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
Simple Meningitis may be seen.
Apoplexy is not very common.
Epilepsy. — Falling sickness is very common, strange to say. Very often it is seen
in children and young people.
Lesions of any of the Cranial Nerves may be seen.
Spinal Paralysis is sometimes met with.
Locomotor Ataxia is seen.
Lateral Sclerosis.
Neuralgia.
Sciatica.
Headache.
Megrim.
Convulsions.
Tetanus. — I have seen this in three different surgical cases.
Insanity. — I have seen several varieties. One form has come frequently under my
observation in which a native during the course of a disease, such as small pox, or after
some exposure to the sun, will suddenly become mad and rush to the woods where he
behaves like a madman — shouting, rushing about, eating leaves. His comrades follow
him in numbers without the slightest fear, saying he has " kifunter I have seen such
men brought back to the village, limbs tied, rolling on the ground and eating the dust.
In a few days the fit of insanity disappears. The cases are peculiarly amenable to drugs
of the nature of Bromide of Potassium.
I have more than once been struck by the wisdom the natives manifested in dealing
with fractures of the bones. They dealt with them in a most rational manner, by
putting on rude splints and setting the bones in a natural position. Very often, however,
the bones rode over one another; but still, they had grasped the principle. Then,
again, in their treatment of a deep-set inflammation they show a great deal of wisdom.
They may scarify the surface which in principle we know to be good. They do it in a
rude way, but they really draw the blood from the deeper organ to the surface. They
do the same in their dry-cupping. They dry-cup by means of a horn, first scarifying the
surface, and then putting a piece of flaming moss inside and suddenly applying the cup.
This is in principle what we do in dry-cupping. The north end natives, too, have, it
seems to me, a wonderful knowledge of roots and leaves and medicinal plants. This
I feel sure would reward anyone who had time to devote himself to the subject.
CHAPTER XL
LANGUAGES
THE native languages of British Central Africa belong exclusively to the
great Bantu group of Negro tongues. Arabic^ used to be spoken by the
Arabs and coastmen temporarily settled in the South Tanganyika, North
Nyasa, and Marimba districts, but is probably now replaced by Ki-swahili — the
language of Zanzibar and the " Hindustani," or lingua Franca of East-Central
Africa between the White Nile and the Zambezi. Portuguese is slightly known
by the people on the Lower Shire ; English is rapidly becoming familiar to all
the tribes of Nyasaland, South Tanganyika, and Mweru. In time it will be the
common language spoken by all sorts and conditions of men in South-Central
Africa for purposes of intercommunication in matters of Government, Religion,
Commerce, Mechanics, Arts and Sciences. But in some respects it will be
run hard for supremacy by Ki-swahili,* the language of Zanzibar.
This remarkable tongue offers a parallel to English, with its absorption of
Latin ; and Hindustani, with its Hindi basis and heterogeneous additions of
Arabic, Turkish, and Persian words. Its main stock of words and its grammar
are purely Bantu ; but about twenty-five per cent, of its vocabulary is corrupt
Arabic. Arab influence, however, has simplified the grammar and the numerals,
and has provided Ki-swahili with a copious, apt diction capable of expressing
almost any ideas with exactitude and precision. When new words for new
concepts are wanted they have only to be looked out in the Arabic dictionary
and pronounced in an easier African manner to at once become incorporated in
"the Queen's Swahili." Say that you want a word to express "Witness;
witnesses in a court of law " — you look out the word in an Arabic dictionary —
Shahtdy turn it into Swahili pronunciation — Shahidi^ add on the Ma- prefix
and pluralise it as Mashahidi — " witnesses." " Call your witnesses — Ita
mashahidi yako'*
The pronunciation of Arabic words is facilitated — " Swahili-ised " — thus :
Sanduq (box, chest) becomes Sanduku, the difficult pronunciation of the S ((^)
and the q (^) being ignored.^ 'Urn (science) becomes Elimu; !^^/ (intelligence)
changes in the soft African pronunciation into Akilu The following sentence
will give some fair idea of the proportion of Arabic words in Ki-swahili, and
the kind of concepts for which they are used (I place the words derived from
Arabic in italics): — Si-nge-/^«^«/« kuja kuku-ona, Bwana\^ lakini ni-me-pata
* The Arabic spoken was the corrupt jargon of the Hadhramaut and 'Oman.
* JCi' is the prefix denoting " kind of, sort of" — and is frequently, but not always, applied to languages.
Swahili is derived from the Arabic Sawahel — "the coastlands" — the people of the coast.
' Though in writing Swahili in the Arabic character the original Arab spelling of the transmuted
words is retained.
* A corruption of the Arabic Abuna^ *' our fether."
478
LANGUAGES 479
jeraha kwa ku-pigwa risasi na Askari yako : natafuta hakki yako. (I should
not dare to come and see you, Master^ were it not that (buf) I have got a
wound through being struck with a bullet (shot) by your soldier : I seek your
justice)
But the basis of Ki-swahili is thoroughly " Bantu," and Bantu of a fairly old
and uncorrupted type. Consequently it is singularly well adapted for a
universal language in East-Central Africa, as so much of its vocabulary can
be understood by the Yao, the A-nyanja, the Makua, the Ba-bisa, the
Awemba, the Wa-nyamwezi, the Ba-ganda, and the tribes of all the coast
regions of East Africa. It is impossible for the traveller to learn all the many
different dialects of British Central Africa ; equally impossible to expect that
all the natives for a hundred years to come shall learn to speak English.
Therefore Ki-swahili — like Hindustani in India — presents itself as a solvent
of the difficulty. Anyone speaking the language of Zanzibar well and fluently^
cannot fail to make himself understood wherever he may go from the Zambezi
to the White Nile.
The languages of the country I am describing are allied to Kiswahili as
Bengali, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindi, Mahratti, Gujrati, are allied to Hindustani : that
is to say, they are pure Bantu (with, it may be, some deep-disguised infusion
from the older stock of languages ? Bushman ? Hottentot which they displaced
one to two thousand years ago), just as the Indian dialects above named are
pure Aryan (save for some prehistoric absorption of Dravidian elements).
Before proceeding to describe the principal languages here illustrated I
may be allowed, perhaps, to say a few words on the Bantu family of African
tongues.
Some three thousand years ago we may imagine the southern half of Africa*
but sparsely peopled. In the great Congo forests a few pigmies wandered ;
Eastern, South-Central, and Southern Africa were given up to Hottentot and
Bushman races; the Nilotic negroes, perhaps, extended in their range to the
latitude of Zanzibar, and the West African negro crdpt down the west coast as
far as Angola. Then somewhere in the very heart of Africa — north of the
Congo Basin, west of the Nile Valley, south of the Shari River, and east. of the
Benue — a small tribe of negroes arose speaking a language remarkable for its
development of governing prefixes, and for the concord system by which the
pronominal prefix which begins the noun prefaces or is inserted into all the
adjectives, pronouns, and verbs in the sentence which refer to that noun. The
" Bantu "' mother-tongue spoken by this tribe was a sister language to other
Central and West African forms of speech — related to the stock from which the
Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Dahome, Lower Niger, Benue, Niger Delta'* languages
sprang. In a more distant way the archaic Bantu tongue must have had
relationships with the Ful or " Fulfulde " language (of the so-called " Fulahs "),
with the Tumale speech of Northern Darfur ; even with the Hausa.*
^ Any diligent person can master Ki-swahili in three months* study. Too often, however, this
hannonious, apt, and concise language is misrepresented in Central Africa by a vile jargon picked up
in the bazaars of Zanzibar — the ** Mimi kwenda huku, we we kuja hapa " style.
* South of the northern parts of the Congo Basin, the Victoria Nyanza and Zanzibar.
' Bantu is a representative name applied to this great group of languages by Dr. Bleek, the first philo-
logist to study them. It means literally ** people" — Ba-ntti {Mu-titu=9. person) and is illustrative of
the prefix system.
* With the exception of the Bonny and Benin languages. These are quite isolated and highly peculiar.
* The most remarkable Hausa speech is a connecting link between the Hamitic and the Negro
language groups. Even at the present day there are many links existing which show the original con-
nection— both physical and linguistic — between the Arab and the Negro.
480
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
The tribe speaking this elaborately constructed prefix- language — the Bantu
mother-tongue — must have waxed very numerous and powerful, have enjoyed
a certain amount of culture remotely derived from Egypt, and have possessed
already such domestic animals as the ox, goat, dog, and fowl. Then — and not
longer ago than two thousand years ^ — the original Bantu people overflowed
MAP SHOWING THE LINES OF MIGRATION OF THE BANTU TRIBES IN THEIR INVASION
OF SOUTHERN AFRICA : the dotted lines show migration-routes of Semi-Bantu tribes ; the shaded
circle indicates site where Bantu languages were first developed.
^ I calculate this date as follows : — Almost all the Bantu peoples have a common word root expressing
the domestic fowl : Kuku. (Nkuku, Ngoko, Nchuchu, Nsusu, Nguku, Nku.) Now the domestic fowl
reached Africa first through Egypt at the time of the Persian occupation— not before 400 B.C. To possess
a name for this bird common to Zululand, the extreme Upper Congo, the Cameroons, and the Victoria
Nyanza, it is clear that the Bantu knew the fowl prior to their dispersal. As they could not have received
it from Egypt much more than two thousand years ago, this limits the period which has elapsed since they
started from their first home to occupy half Africa. I have been working for a good many years at a
** Comparative Grammar of the Bantu languages," which I hope to publish before long. In this I adduce
many other reasons for fixing the date of the Bantu exodus.
LANGUAGES 481
#
the country to the south of their first area of development, and rapidly spread
over all the southern half of Africa except the extreme south-western corner
(Cape Colony and Namakwaland). The antecedent populations they absorbed
or exterminated.
Henceforth, with the exception of the Hottentot-Bushman, there has been
but one linguistic family over this huge area of Africa which lies to the south
of a line cutting the West Coast of Africa between the Cameroons and the
Cross River, skirting the northern limits of the Congo Basin, traversing the
Albert Nyanza, passing round to the north of Bu-nyoro, Bu-ganda, and Bu-soga,
reaching the Victoria Nyanza at its north-eastern extremity, leaving out its east
coast, striking eastwards again from its south-easternmost gulf, and eventually
attaining the Indian Ocean at Lamu, following a very irregular course, and
including Mount Kilimanjaro within its limits, but leaving several detached
islands of Bantu-speaking areas as enclaves in the Masai and Galla countries
to the north-east.
The lines of dispersal of the Bantu negroes appear to have been something
like the routes given in the accompanying diagram.
Of course the original home of the Bantu is now occupied by other
tribes of negroes, not Bantu though, perhaps, speaking languages, distantly
akin to the original Bantu mother-tongue. Probably the original cause
of the Bantu dispersal was the driving away of the tribe from their first
home by alien invaders. Checked for a time by the dense Congo forests
on the south, the movement of the Bantu was at first in an easterly
direction. Then reaching the Albert Nyanza the main body took a south-
ward direction, and persisted in this while sending off important branches
to the west and east.
To some extent the most archaic Bantu tongues existing are still found
along this main line of route — Ki-rega, Ki-guha, Ki-emba,^ Ci-bisa, Zulu
(Isi-zulu) — though a primitive type of Bantu may be found stranded here
and there off the main route — such as Ki-makonde on the east coast, near
the mouth of the Ruvuma River, the Nkonde dialects of the north end of
Lake Nyasa, and Oci-herero of Damaraland.
The following propositions may be laid down to define the peculiar
features of the Bantu languages : —
1. They are agglutinative in their construction^ their syntax being formed by
adding prefixes and suffixes to the root, but no infixes (that is to say, no
syllable incorporated into the root word).
2. The root is unchanging to all intents and purposes^ though its first or
last letter (vowel or penultimate consonant) may be modified in pro-
nunciation by the preceding letter of the prefix or succeeding letter of
the suffix. With one exception there is no inflection: that exception
(scarcely in origin a true one) is in the case of the preterite tense of
the verb in certain languages where the root changes in its termination
probably by the absorption of a suffix.
3. No two consonants come together without an intervening vowel (except
where one of them is a nasal, a labial, or a semi-vowel) : no consonant
is doubled (except by the accidental juxtaposition of two m*s or n's,
one of which represents an abbreviated particle) : no word ever ends
in a consonant except in rare instances where the termination through
contraction and the dropping of a vowel becomes a nasal sound.
^ Probably the most primitive of all, as spoken in South-West Tanganyika,
31
482 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
S
4. Substantives are divided into many classes or genders indicated by the
pronominal particle prefixed to the root. Some of these prefixes are used
in a plural sense, others in the singular. No singular prefix can be
used as a plural, nor can a plural prefix be employed in the singular
number. There is a certain degree of correspondence between the singular
and plural prefixes, thus. No. 2 prefix invariably serves as plural to No, i ;
No, 8 (plural) corresponds to No, 7 (singular), but this cannot be depended
on as a rule. The full number of the prefixes is sixteen} The pronominal
particle or prefix of the noun is attached to the adjectives, pronouns, and
verbs in the sentence which are connected with that noun, and though in
course of time these particles may differ in form from the noun-prefix,
they were formerly identical in origin, (This system is the " Concord "
of Dr. Bleek). The pronominal particles whether in the nominative or
accusative case must always precede the verbal root, though they often
follow the auxiliary particles used in conjugating the verbs, (An
apparent but not a real exception to this rule is in the second person
plural of the imperative mood where an abreviated form of the pronoun
is affixed to the verb^ and other phases of the verb are occasionally
emphasised by the repetition of the governing pronoun at the end.)
5. The verbal-root may modify its termination by a change of the last vowel
or by suffixing certain particles ; or it may even change its radical vowel
either to form a tense or to alter the original meaning of the simple stem,
6. The root of the verb is the second person singular of the imperative,
7. No sexual gender is recognised.
The sixteen original prefixes of the Bantu languages are given below. I
state them in the most archaic forms to be found in living languages ; but there
are evidences to show that some of these prefixes are not now found in their
oldest types, and these latter, obtained by deduction from the other forms of
the particle used in the syntax, are given in brackets.
BANTU PREFIXES.
Singular. Plural.
Class I Mu-(Ngu-) Class 2 Ba-
„ 3 Mu.(Ngu-) „ 4 Mi-(Ngi.)
„ 5 Di-(Ndi-) „ 6 Ma.(Nga-)
„ 7 Ki-(Nki-?) „ 8 Bi-
„ 9 N or Ni M 10 Ti-, Ti-n-, or bi-,^ bi-n-,
or Zi-, Zi-n-
„ II Lu-(Ndu?) „ 12 Tu (often diminutive
„ 13 Ka (usually a diminutive). in sense).
„ 14 Bu- (sometimes used in a plural sense; generally em-
ployed to indicate abstract nouns).*
„ 15 Ku- (identical with preposition ** to," used as an infinitive
with verbs but also with certain old nouns indicating
functions of the body primarily).
„ 16 Pa- (locative: applied to nouns and other forms of
speech to indicate "place" or position. Identical
with adverb " here," as ku- is with " there.")
^ Possibly seventeen. ^ //<z = call! //ani = call ye ! ifi = ye.
•^ English Th- in ** think." ^ As Mu-ntu = a man ; Bu-ntu=- humanity.
LANGUAGES 483
To these sixteen prefixes should perhaps be added the preposition mu- " in,"
" into," which in some languages is used as a prefix or pronominal particle,
as in the Svvahili phrase " M'nyumba-ni mw-ace" = In his house — where the
In house in it (in) his
preposition M' (abbreviation for Mu-) has the particle Mw (Mu) agreeing with
it and placed before the pronoun -ace.
Also the prefix in the singular number having a diminutive sense, which is
found in some of the N orth- Western ^ Bantu tongues — Fi- or Vi-. This is
possibly an additional prefix which has come into independent being in that
rather divergent group. It cannot be traced to derivation from any of the
other prefixes among the sixteen. It is always used in the singular, and its
corresponding plural prefix is the twelfth (Tu-).
The concord may be explained thus : —
Let us for a moment reconstruct the original Bantu mother-tongue (as
attempts are sometimes made to deduce the ancient Aryan from the most
archaic of its daughters) and propound sentences to illustrate the repetition
of pronominal particles known as the " concord."
OLD BANTU :
Abao Bantw bah\ badaota; tu^^oga.
They they person they bad they they-who kill ; we them fear.
('* They are bad men who kill ; we fear them.")
Now let us render this into a modern dialect, Luganda of Buganda :
Bo Bantu bahi babotdL\ tu^atia.
They they person they bad they they-who kill ; we them fear.
Or, again —
OLD BANTU ;
iV^-ti ngunguo ngugv^dL. \ ku«^mbona ?
This tree this ihis-one this falk ; thou this seest?
(" The tree falls ; doest thou see it ? ")
Rendered into Kiguha of Tanganyika, this would be :
Mut\ guno gugwa\ u^mona?
It tree thb (one) it falls; thou it seest?
The prefixes and their once identical particles have varied greatly in form
from the aboriginal syllables as the various Bantu dialects became more and
more corrupt. The eighth prefix, Bi-, becomes Vi-, Pi-, Fi-, Fy-, Si-,^ I-, By-, Bz-,
Py-, Ps-, Zi-. Further confusion is caused by the retention and fusion in the
prefix of the preceding vowel which marked the full definite form when the
prefix was used as a definite article or demonstrative pronoun. The definite
forms of the prefixes were these:— -i. Umu (Uftgu, Uftu), 2. Aba, 3. Umu
(Uflgu, Ufiu), 4. Imi (Iftgi, Ifii), 5. Idi (Indi), 6. Ama (Afiga, Afta), 7. Iki, 8, Ibi,
9. In-, ID. Ibin- or Izin, 11. Ulu, 12. Utu, 13. Aka, 14. Ubu, 15. Uku, 16. Apa
Umu contracts into Um', M', U' ; Aba into Awa, A* ; Idi into Edi, Ei, E', P,
and so on.
The Bantu dialects illustrated in this volume by vocabularies fall into
groups more or less coincident with the tribal or racial congeries of peoples
enumerated at the beginning of the chapter on Anthropology ; but in drawing
* Perhaps also in the E<astern Congo basin. In the form of I- it is seemingly present in Manyema.
' Shi-, the F palatalised.
484 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
up vocabularies I have passed beyond the political limits of British Central
Africa and have, for the sake of comparison, included tongues spoken in
other and adjoining spheres.
The Manyema language which comes first on my list is illustrated by a
vocabulary supplied to me by Manyema slaves in the Arab settlements on the
south coast of Tanganyika. Manyema is a remarkable tongue. Its locale is the
country west of Tanganyika, on the Congo versant, and its nearest allies are the
languages spoken on the Upper Congo below (/>., north of) the Stanley Falls,
on the Aruwimi River, and south of the Central Congo (Bololo). Manyema
is an extremely corrupted and worn-down language as will be seen by my
vocabulary. Some of the sixteen Bantu prefixes are apparently dropped.
The few that remain are abbreviated almost beyond recognition.
Ki-guha is a most interesting form of Bantu speech. It is spoken on the west
and north-west coast of Tanganyika and is allied to Ki-rega (a language spoken
in the countries on the Congo Watershed, somewhere to the soutli of the
Albert Nyanza), and to Lu-nyoro and Lu-ganda.
Ki-wemba or Ki-emba is a tongue of very archaic features, especially that
dialect which is spoken in Itawa, on the south-west coast of Tanganyika.
The Ki-wemba of the Awemba country further south does not retain so
many interesting primitive features. Ki-wemba offers points of resemblance
to the remarkable Nkonde dialects on the north and north-west of Lake
Nyasa and on a portion of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau. Their influence
extends as far to the N.E. as the south shore of Lake Rukwa, where the Wungu
language obviously belongs to the Nkonde group. Perhaps Ki-bisa and other
languages further to the west are also allied. All these tongues are remarkable
for retaining the full form of the prefixes when the latter are used as definite
articles — Uinuntu, a man ; Abantu or Awantu, men, and so on. The Ki-lungu
and Ki-mambwe (with the allied Ki-fipa) languages of South and South-East
Tanganyika and the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau are disappointing in that they
present few, if any, archaic features ; though Ki-lungu is less altered than
Ki-mambwe and may be connected with the Ki-emba stock.
The Ki-kese of North-East Nyasa is interesting as offering points of
resemblance to the Yao as well as to the Nkonde dialects.
The Bisa language while belonging to the same stem as the Ki-wemba
evidently represents somewhat closely the original stock from which the
Tumbuka group (Ci-tumbuka, Ci-henga, Ci-tonga, etc.) and the Ci-senga and
Ci-nyanja dialects were derived. The Tumbuka and Tonga tongues exhibit
a phonetic feature almost unheard of elsewhere within the Bantu Family —
the approximation of two consonants (s and k) neither of which is a nasal
or semi-vowel. This however really arises from the gutturalising of a "y**
sound — what should be pronounced sya becomes ^x^ ^^^ •^^^•
Ci-nyanja is the dominant language of Nyasaland. It is represented by
the Ci-nyanja, Ci-cewa, Ci-cipeta, Ci-maravi, Ci-makanga, Ci-maftanja, and
Ci-mbo dialects, but the Senga, Nyungwi (Tete), Sena, and Mazaro languages
of the Luangwa Valley and the Lower Zambezi are closely allied. In true
Ci-nyanja the second prefix shrinks to a-, though in some of the north-western
dialects it is wa-^ and in the Machinjiri country south of the River Ruo,
especially in tlie hills, there is a suspicion of an aboriginal ha- (in the
language of Tete it is va-). The Ci-nyanja language is further remarkable
for the curious changes of the eighth prefix {bi-). In one or two dialects
this becomes vi-^ here and there in remote corners it is byi- or /^/-, but in
LANGUAGES 485
the south-western forms of Chinyanja this changes to bzi- or psi- and in
Central Ci-mafianja to zi- ; a parallel to Zulu. The Ci-pozo language repre-
sented in my vocabularies is a very interesting tongue. It is spoken in the
Zambezi Delta and retains many old roots extinct in adjoining dialects. The
form of the eighth prefix, pi-, is a rare one shared with the Sena dialect. On
the whole Ci-pozo offers strongest affinities with the Ci-nyanja group though it
has evidently influenced and been influenced by I-cuambo, the language of
Quelimane. This last-named tongue is the most southern representative of the
Makua group.
The Makua language and its allied dialects (I-lomwe and others) is a very
remarkable form of Bantu speech, which has evidently been long isolated in this
projection of South-East Africa, the Mozambique province, shut in between
I^ke Nyasa, the Ruvuma River, the Indian Ocean, and the Zambezi Delta.
While preserving many primitive roots, the prefixes have altered strangely; and
a dislike to certain consonants or combinations of consonants has changed the
appearance of many familiar words, so much that, until the genius of the language
has become understood, the Makua dialects are apt to appear more peculiar
than they really are. Nasal sounds are disliked in combination with labials :
thus instead of nyumba^ flombe, mbuzi, they say enupa, ifiope^ epuri, R is con-
stantly substituted for t and z, k for f, and h for s: thus makura^ "oil," instead of
tnafuta; uhiu instead of usiku, H, also, is constantly substituted for k. On the
whole, Makua — or I-makua^ as it is called — is nearest in its affinities to the tongues
of the east coast on its northern borders, and has some distant resemblance to
Yao. It may also have been influenced by the proximity of the Ci-nyanja group;
but it represents an old type of Bantu long isolated. Some of its prefixes are
well nigh inexplicable. Two curious classes it shares with Yao — words begin-
ning in the singular with Mwa- which in the plural are prefixed by Asi- (Yao-
Mwa- ; plural, aci or aca). Mwa- may be short for Mwana — "child" (of); asi-
appears to have been derived from a Yao honorific prefix, used both in singular
and plural — aca or aci, and often reduced in conversation to Ce {che\ as Ce
Mataka — Mr. Mataka.
The Yao language and its relative Ci-ngindo of N.E. Nyasaland are con-
nected with the languages of the Swahili coast Ci-yao is a very difficult
language to learn, on account of the complicated changes that take place in the
verb (of which there are some nineteen tenses duplicated by an almost equal
number of negative tenses) and the clumsy method of dealing with adjectives.
As regards the changes of the actual root of the verb, these only take place in
the preterite tense (though there is the usual change of the terminal vowel in
the subjunctive mood). There is the customary change of the terminal vowel
in the preterite from a into -ile^ which is so widespread in slightly varying forms
among the Bantu languages (as Menya, beat ! past tense — menyile) ; but in
addition there are some seven irregular forms, which can be studied in the
Handbook to the Yao language, by the Rev. A. Hetherwick.
In regard to the adjectives : instead of the simple system in vogue in the
more primitive Bantu tongues by which the adjectival root is merely preceded
by the particle in agreement with the noun-class to which the substantive
belongs — as Muntu Mukulu^R great man — we have first the noun's particle
man great
applied to the adjectival root and then the conjunctival particle of the noun's
^ For Ki-makua. K is disliked at the banning of a word. The Ki- prefix becomes I- and the Ku-
prefix, U-.
486 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
class superadded. Thus : not Mundu ;//knlungwa, but Mundujua^-m-ku/ungwa
man great man this of this greatness
= Man of greatness, " great man."
Ci-yao from its many difficulties will never become a useful language in
British Central Africa. The Yao themselves seem to feel this from the
assiduity with which they employ Ki-swahili and Ci-nyanja in their trade
transactions. From a philological point of view, however, it is a most
interesting language, the construction of which throws considerable light on
the genesis of the Bantu speech.
Among the languages spoken in British Central Africa should be enumerated
Zulu. The use of Zulu still lingers among the older men and the " aristocracy "
of the Angoni kingdoms in South- West, North-West, and Eastern Nyasaland,
though it is rapidly disappearing. In some districts it is spoken without the
clicks : in others the seventh prefix has been changed back to la- from /si-
and the eighth prefix has been restored to Ivi- from the Zulu corruption /r/-.
This no doubt is borrowed from the Wa-tonga, Wa-chewa, and Ba-tumbuka,
who are the indigenous inhabitants and subject peoples of Angoniland. Just
possibly it may be that the ancestors of the Angoni who left Zululand about
1820 retained the older forms of these prefixes. Zulu will probably leave traces
of its intrusion into these lands by grafting on to the speech of the Nyasa
peoples many words of South African origin, but as a spoken language it is
destined to a speedy disappearance north of the Zambezi.
Although the various Bantu dialects of British Central Africa have reached
this country by many different routes and are derived from many different
subsidiary stocks — their common origin in some cases going back to a distance
of time and space both remote — they are already reacting on one another in a
manner to produce a certain surface resemblance often deceiving to the casual
traveller who requires to examine closely into their structure and vocabularies
to realise that although outwardly alike in some respects, there are in reality
well-marked differences between the minor groups; and still more between
the languages to the west of Lake Nyasa and those to the east of that Lake
(Ci-yao and I-makua),
The vocabularies which now follow have all with four exceptions been
collected by myself from natives who spoke one or other of the languages
as their mother- tongue. The four exceptions are Ci-mananja, Ci-mbo,
Ci-cuambo, and Ci-mazaro, which were kindly collected for me by the Rev.
D. C. Ruffele-Scott of Blantyre. Some of the words in the Ci-cipeta
vocabulary are supplied by Mr. Scott also.
The system of orthography which I have deemed it wise to adopt is
practically that of Lepsius, with slight modifications which make it easier
for printing purposes. The consonants are pronounced as in English with
the exception of c, which always stands for c/i in " church." N represents
the ringing nasal sound in the word "ri«^i;sr^" (as contrasted with "ng" in
stro//^r"): thus Maftanja is pronounced Mang'anja but without any pause.
(I stands for M {th in " this "), b stands, for th {th in think) ; s is the equivalent
of sh ; z the equivalent of zh ; y (Greek gamma) represents the guttural
sound of gh (Arabic c yain — like the German pronunciation of r) ; x (Greek
^ Although it will not at first seem apparent to the reader, jua. and nt- are really of the same origin.
They both go Imck to the oldest form of the first prefix— w^'//-. This became in time »«- and mu- as a
prefix, but as a parikle it has in many languages an older type--^/-, /«-, yu-, wu-y w'-. The m- in
w'kulungwa stands, of course, for w//-.
LANGUAGES 487
cht) is kh {ch in " loch ") ; and q stands for the Arabic guttural k, " kof," ^.
Whenever k is seen it is to be pronounced as an English aspirate. Thus :
Katha would be pronounced kat-ha, not katha as in "Katharine"; bakha
would be bak'ha, not ba^a ; and so on.
Vowels are pronounced as in Italian, with //, 0 as in German. O is like
"o" in "not"; o like "o" in "st^re." The Greek o) stands for the diphthongal
sound of "o" in "bone." The diphthong ei must be carefully and logically
pronounced like ey in "grey"; not like ey in "eye,"^ as it is a conjunction
of e (ay) and i {ee).
The numbers placed against words in the vocabularies indicate the original
classes of the Bantu mother-language to which the nouns belong and correspond
with the numbers attached to my foregoing table of the classes. Thus "9 and 10"
attached to a word mean that it belongs in that form to both the ninth and tenth
classes, the prefixial distinction being lost but the class of the noun being still
preserved in the other syntaxial particles.^ Often after a noun the word " two "
or " many " will be placed as the explanation of an accompanying native word.
This is to show the form of the plural adjectival particle or prefix. Of course
your negro informant would simply gape if you asked, " Now tell me the plural
adjectival prefix of the fourth class " ; but if you put it this way, " How do you
say * Two Trees * ? " he will at once reply : *' Miti gibili " = " Trees two," and you
at once put down delightedly " gi " as the adjectival particle belonging to nouns
of the fourth class or " Mi-* prefix. In like manner the sentences at the end are
not the senseless rubbish they seem, but are intended to disclose the structure of
the language.
^ English people with their dull hearing and want of knowledge will pronounce the name of the
Portuguese town of Beira, ** B)nra," instead of Bayra,
• For instance : in Ki-swahili, nyumba (class 9) is "a house** ; nyumha (class 10) is "houses.*' But
Nyumba hi/ is "this house,'* and Nyumba his/ is ** these houses** : showing that the prefix zi- has been
lost in the noun.
488
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
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W5
fi
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INDEX
Note. — All African names of countries, languages, or peoples, which are not found under their
initial letter in this Index, should be looked for under the initial of the root -word. Thus for
Ci-Yao see Yao, Ci-, or Yao language ; for Wunyamwezi see Nyamwezi, Wu- ; Anyanja, Nyanja, A-.
In all cases, however, where the reader might be supposed not to be acquainted with the root-word,
the commonest compounds are also given — Awemba, as well as Emba, Aw-.
The lists of scientific names given in the Appendices are not always referred to in the Index.
Aard-wolf, 285
Abu Bakr, 116
Abyssinia, 286, 295, 303
Acacia trees, 3, 2Q, 209, 220
Accountants, B.C. A. Administration, 151
Addax antelope, 314
Aden, 63
Aden Arabs, io2
Administration of B.C. A , 107 ; Appendix to
Chap. IV. (Attitude of towards slavery),
158
Advantages of B.C. A., 178
Africa, Central, 18 1-2, 211
"Africa Orders in Council," 114, 154
African Lakes Company, 67, 71, 74, 77, 78, 82,
97, 98, 116, 121, 137, 143, 147-8, 149 (Bank),
150; 160-1, 165, 176, 181
"Africana" (by Rev. A. Duflf Macdonald), 68. 416
Afzeliay 224
Agriculture, Native, 37, 424, et seq,
Albert Nyanza, 480
Albizzia trees, 2, 4, 220
Alcohol (in Africa), 180-1
Alga in Lake Nyasa, 283
Alluvial soil, 48 ; gold, 49
Aloes, 4, 222-223
Alston, Lieut., 134, 136, 138, et seq.^ 140, 141,
144, 146
Ambo, Wambo Tribe, 459
America and the Slave Trade, 156, 157
Amomums (Malaguetta i>epper), 22$, 226
Amphibiay 362
Anoa, 303
Ancestor-worship, 449
Anderson, Sir Percy, 1 19, 129
Anderson Fort (see Fort Anderson),
Anemone, 211, 234
Angas's Tragelaph, vide Inyala,
Anglo-German Convention, 94, 96
Anglo-Indian, 147
Anj^lo- Portuguese Convention, 96, 98
Angoche, 56, 99, 156
Angola, 59, 286, 334, 479
Angoni, ihe, 28, 32, 62-3, 70, ic6, 144, 157, 162,
392, 419, 421, 423, 432, 470
Angoniland, 49, 421
Angracum orchids, 2IO
Anguni (people and country), 58, 130
Anona (Custard apple), 220, 226, 428
Ansellia orchid, 210
Anseresy 337
Ant-eater, Scaly (see Manis)
Antelopes, 10, 309
„ Sable, 4, 317 (see Sable)
Anthropology, 392, et seq.
Ants, 375
Apes, Anthropoid, 285
Arab, Arabs, 23, 24, 30, 31, 32, 54, 56, 62, 64,
71, et seq,, 82, 92, 94, 102, 124, 13s, et seq.,
156, et seq,, 392, 429, 434, 437, 440, 478
Arab town, word picture of an, 22, et seq,
Arabia (Southern), 54, 7i
^Vrabic, 478-9 ; (Coast), 55, 478
Aristea (iris), 212
Armed Forces of B.C. A., 152-3
Arnot, F. S. (Plymouth Brethren Mission), 190
Artillery (used against Arabs), 75, 139, 140
Artiodactyla, 291
Arums, 216
Atonga, 70, 72, 104, Ii6, 118, 130, 131, 168,404
,, Marriage customs, 413, 414, 417, 419
Aulacodus swinderenianus, 291
Australians in B.C. A., 147
Austro- Hungarian settlers in B.C. A., 147
Author (commencement of interest in affairs of
Nyasaland), 80 ; Kilimanjaro Expedition, 82 (and
see Kilimanjaro) ; work in Niger Coast Protec-
torate, 80; conversation with Lord Salisbury,
80; made Consul in Portuguese East Africa,
81 ; proceeds to Lisbon, 81 ; article in the
Times, 81 ; 's interview with Serpa Pinto
%2i ; with Mlauri, the Makololo Chief, 84 ;
makes treaties with Makololo, 85 ; 's
ride to Blantyre \ arranges for British Pro-
tectorate and leaves for Upper Shire, 86;
reception at hands of Lieut. Coutinho, 88 ;
reaches Mponda's, journeys to Island of
Likoma, Bandawe, and Kotakota on Lake
Nyasa, 90; secures first portion of B.C. A. by
arrangement with Jumbe, 92 ; makes peace
with North Nyasa Aral>s, 94 ; starts for Tan-
ganyika, 95 ; explores Lake Rukwa, 95 ; leaves
532
I
INDEX
533
Tanganyika for Mozambique, 96; returns to
England, 96; made a C.B., 96; appointed
Commissioner for B.C. A. and Administrator of
the B.S.A. Co.*s territories North of Zambezi,
97 ; returns to B.C. A., 97 ; arrives at Zomba
and starts for Mponda's, 100 ; leaves for Lake
Nyasa on Christmas Day, 1 891, after Captain
' Maguire's death, 105 ; makes war on Zarali,
105-6 ; troubles with European settlers, 108 ;
"Job" experiences, 108; imposes Hut Tax,
no; commences Land settlement, 112; spends
Christmas of 1892 at Blantyre, 115; goes on
expedition against slave-traders on Upper Shire,
116; goes to South Africa to confer with Mr.
Rhodes, 117; divides B.C. A. into administra-
tive districts (1893), 119; restores order at Fort
IJster after attempted assassination of Captain
Johnson ; proceeds on 2nd Makanjira expedition,
121; founds Fort Maguire, 126; returns to
England (1894), 126; organises Civil Service of
Protectorate, 129; establbhes postal service, 129;
proceeds to India, 129; returns to B.C. A., 129;
proceeds against Matipwiri, ZaraB, and Mponda,
133, et seq.; accepts Mponda*s surrender, 134;
continues campaign against Arabs, 136 ; lands
at Karonga and starts for Arab stockades, 138 ;
interview with Mlozi during truce ; offers Arabs
terms, 140 ; resumes bombardment, 140; enters
stockade, 142 ; tries Mlozi and sanctions his
execution, 143 ; falls ill with black -water fever,
14:5 ; returns to England on leave of absence
(1896), 146; introduces cash currency (English
coinage) into B.C. A., 149; experiences in
regard to Black-water fever, 179; botanical
collections of, 233 ; views regarding elephants,
291-2; classification of zebras, 292, et seq.; of
antelopes, 309, birds, 333, et seq. ; feeling towards
the African goat, 432; receives "war" messages
from Yao chiefs, 469
Awemba, 135, 145, >57, 389,421* 423.430» 468,470
Babisa (see Bisa)
Baboon, 286-7
Bain, Rev. Mr., 73
Baker, Sir Samuel, 292
Baloi or Balui, 77
Bamboos, 4, 7, 8
Bananas, 427, 429 ; wild, 217
Bandawe (place), 70, 90
Sergcant-Major, 130, 131, 142
Bongweolo, Lake, 39, 45, 61, 64, 65
Bank (A. L. Co.'s), 150
Bantu languages, 54, 478, et seq, ; origin of the,
54, 479, 480 ; prefixes of, 482, et seq, ; proposi-
tions defining, 481, 482
Bantu negroes, 55, 389, 479
Baobab tree, 20, 221, 223, 229
Baptist Mission, 189
Barbets, 332, 350
Barutse, 65, (^^ 69, 77, 156, 190
Baskets, native, 458
Basuto,— land, 65, 156 ; ponies, 164
Batoka or Batonga, 58, 77, 233
Batrachians, 359
Bats, 288
Beads, 422,471
Beans (native, cultivated), 426, 427, 429
Bechuana, — land, 65, 66, 77
Bedford, Admiral, 121
Bees, 374, 381
Bee-eaters, 335, 351
Beetles, 196, 368, 385
Beira, 55, 56, 487
Belcher, Mr. Ralph, 97
Belgians, 71
Bell, Mr. F. Jeffrey, 365
Bemdt, Captain, 137
Bicycles in B.C. A., 164, 187
Birds, II, 329, et seq,
and crocodiles, 355
singing, of Africa, 195, 332
Birth customs (see Customs, Ethnology)
Bisa, Ba-, 62, 71, 389, 479; Ci-, 480, 484,
and Vocabularies ; Lu-, 71, 156
Blacksmiths, native, 51
Black- water Fever, x^^et seq,^ 172, 178-9, et seq,y
184-5
Blantyre, 27, 28, 66, 86, 130, 149, 154, 161, 166^
et seq.f 189
"atrocities" (Commission thereon), 68
Bleek, Dr., 449
Bocarro, Jaspar, 57, 58
Boma (a stockade), 130, 175
Bombax^ 210
Boo; see Tra^elaphus angasi
Books in Central Africa, 188
Borassus palms, I, 2 1 3, 214, 23 1
Boroma, 234
Botanists, 211
Botany, 207, 211
Botanical gardens at Zomba, 151, 174
Bovida, BoviniCy 309, et seq,
Bowhill, J. O., 440
Boyce, Dr., 104; 125, 144
Brachystegia^ 229
Bradshaw, Lieut.-Cblonel, 136, et seq,y 141
Brass, 463
Brass wire drawing, 463
Brickmaking, 173
British Central Africa : name first given, 96 ; first
European to enter, 58 ; general situation in, in
1889, 76; inaccessibility of, in 1889, JT, de-
clared a Protectorate, 86 ; first portion secured,
92 ; declared a British Sphere of Influence, oSj.
eastern boundaries of, 146; devastated by slave
trade, 156 ; a field for coffee planting, 164 ;
steamers of, 147 ; trade of, 147 ; a clearly -
marked Zoographical sub-region, 285
British Central Africa Administration, 107, (Ap-
pendix to Chapter IV.) 153-4, 158; attitude of,
towards slave trade, 156, et seq,
British Central Africa Gazette^ 154
British Concession, Chinde, 164
British Government discouraged in Zambezia, 63 ;
unable to assist settlers against Arabs in 1889, 78 ;
considers financial position in B.C. A., 126, 129
British South Africa Company, 36, 50, 81, 89,
(agreement for support of B.C. A. Administration)
97, (subsidies oi) 117, 126, 129, (assumes direct
administration of its northern territory, 1895)*
129; 146, 148, 158
British subjects in B.C.A., 146-7
Bua river, 49
Bubaiis, 321
Buchanan, Mr. John, 66, 68, 74, 76, 77, 85, 86,.
96, 103, 160, 161, 233
534
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Budorcas^ 321
Bufialo, 10, 303, et sfq,, 329 ; Indian, 64, 303,
305
Bugs, 369, 381
Bulbul, 195, 332, 349
Buntings, 331, 348
Burchell's zebra, 292, 295-6
Burial customs ; see Customs, Ethnology
Burkill, Mr. J. H., 233
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, 63, 64
Bushbuck, 305-6, 329
Bush fires, 37, 42
Bushmen, 52, 53, 389, 479-80 ; stones, 52
Bush pig {Potamocharus)^ 296-7, 329
Bustards, 329. 341, 351
Butterflies, 196, 367-8, 381, it seq,
Cameron, Mr. K. C, 233
Cameron, Capt. V. L., 66
Canaries, wild, 331
Candido de Costa Cardoso, 60
Cannibalism, 446, et seq.
Canoes, native, 456-7
Cant among Missionaries, 190, et seq.
Cape Colony, 429
Cape-oak {liex)^ 10
Cape of Good Hope, 59
*• Cape to Cairo," 81, 96
Cape Town, 28, 59, 60
Capital needed in B.C. A. for coffee planting, 160,
163, 164
**Capitao," 168, 204
Capncorns, 309, 327
Capsicums, 428
.Carr, Lieut. -Commander, 117
Carson, Mr., 234
Cash (introduction of), I49> 178
Cassava, 427, 429
Castor Oil, 223, 427, 428; plant, 223, 224,
429
Castration of slaves, 158-9
Cat, domestic, 289, 434
,, wild, of B.C.A., 289
Cattle (of European planters), 160, 177
„ of natives, 429, et seq,; domestic ^breeds of
Africa, 430
Cavendish, Captain Hon. W. E., 133-4, 136
Cear^ rubl>er, 160
Cedar (Mlanje), 12, 13, 150, 224, 232
Celibacy among missionaries, 198-9
Centipedes, 364-5
Central Africa (see Africa, Central)
Central Angoniland, 144, 154
Central Zambezi, 89, 190
Cephalophus^ 309; Cephalophines, 309, et seq,
Cercopithecus, 287
Cervkapra^ 311
Chambezi (District), 119; (River), 65
Chameleons, 356, 362
Champagne in fever, 180
Chapman's Zebra, 295-6
Charles Janson, Mr., 69
Charles Janson, s.s., 55, 69, 76, 90, 93
Cheetah, 286, 289
Chewa, A, 144-5, 430; Ci- (Ci-cewa), 484, and
Vocabularies
**Chicote" (Hippo-hide whip), 169
Chiefs, native, 114, 468-9
Chifisi, 106, 132
Chikala, Mount, 115, 131, 132
Chikumbu, Chief, 91-2
Chikunda, A., 391
Chikusi, 100, 132, 146
Chikwawa, 154
Chilwa, Lake, 46, 47, 51, 60, 130, 174, 296, 318
Chinde, 98, 148, 149, 164, 165
„ River, 63, 79, 82, 165
Chipatula, 69; sons of, 84, 85, 87
Chipeta, A-, 145
Chiperone, Mount, 319
Chipoka, Chief, 99, 107, 108, 330
Chiradzulu, Mount, 38, 69, 84, 87, 88, 98, 132,
149, 154, 164, 166
Chiromo, 303, 335, 439
Chiuta, Lake, 46, 455
Chiwaura, 121, 122-4
Cholo, Mount, 447
Chongone, Mount, 45
Churdi at Blantyre, 28, 175
Church of Scotland Mission {vide Missionary
Societies)
Churchill, Mr. W. A . 82, 96
Cinchona, 160
Cinnabar, 50
Civet, 289
Civil Service, B.C. A., 152, 153
Civilisation (at Blantyre), 27, 28
"Claims, Certificates of," 113
Clematis, 7
Climate of B.C. A., 39, 40
CnestiSy 210
Coal, 49, 51, 151
Coape-Smith, Lieut. H., 133-4, 135, 136, et seq.^
141, 143-4
Cobras, 356, 359
Cobus antelopes: C. eUipsiprymnus, 312; C.
lechwe^ 286, 312; C, vardoni^ 286, 312; C
senganus^'^\2\ C. crawshayi^'^iT.-y, C.penriceij
313 ; C. niaria, 314
The Cobus group generally, 309
Cockroaches, 367, 371-2
.^Cocoanut-palm, 23, 212, 214
•^ Coflfee (introduction of, 66), 160, 429 ; (
planting), 77, 160, 161, 163; Export and
prices of, 147, 162 ; Kinds of, 161 ; Manures
for, 162 ; Methods of planting, 162, 170 ; yield
of, per acre, 162; ** topping, ' 163; treatment
of ripe berries, 170
Coinage (see English Coinage)
Colobus monkey, 285, 287
Coiocasia^ 429
Cold temperature, 41, 186
Coleoptera, 385, et seq.
Colies, 332-3. 350
Collectors and Assistant Collectors, 1 52-3
Commelina^ 210
Commissioner of B C.A., 97, 114, 152
„ „ „ Deputy, 152
Comoro Islands, 64
Concession, British (see British Concession)
Congo Basin, 54, 303, 479
„ Free State, 89, 148, 285, 334
,, River, 60, 66, 80, 303
,, Treaty of 1884. 80
** Conquistadores," 56
Consul for Nyasa, 68
INDEX
535
Cooking, native methods of, 436, et seq.
Coots, 27
Copaifera^ 2 10, 220, 224, 229
Copper, 51, 460, 463
Coreopsis flowers, 7, 212
Cormorants, 27, 342, 353
Cost of living in B.C. A., 178
Cotterill, Mr. H. B., 67
Cotton, 160
Courts of Justice, foundation of, 1 14
Coutinho, Lieut., 87, et seq*
Crabs, land, 363
Cranes, 338, 352
„ Crowned, 27, 338, 340-1
Crawshay, Mr. Richard, 74, 94, 97, 116, 135,
295» 298, 312-3, 322, 325, 326
Crickets, 374
Crinum lilies, 209
Crocodiles, 73, 343» 355-6, 361
Cross, Dr. D. Kerr, 73, 74, 95, 135, 137, 180,
184, 442, 449, 45 1 1 473. <?' ^eq.
Crotalaria^ 210, 428-9
Croton, 224
Crow, II, 330 (South African, 330), 349
Crown land, 113
Crystals, Quartz, 51
Cuambo (Chuambo) I- (I-cuambo), 485-6 and
Vocabularies
Cuckoos, 332, 350
Cucumbers, 426, et seq,
Cullen, Commander Percy, 49, 51, 138, et seq.y
140, 141
Cultivated plants, 426, et seq,^ 144
Cumming (see Gordon Cumming)
Cunningham, Mr. J. F., 115
Customs, Native: Birth, 416
„ „ Burial, 444, ^/ j<r^.
„ ,, Death, 443
,, ,, Initiation, 409, r/ j/-^.
,, ,, Marriage, 411, ^/ j^^.
Customs (fiscal). Organization of B.C. A., no
Cycads, 7, 214
Cyitoglossuvty 212
Cypresses (at Blantyre), 29, 175
„ Mlanje (see Cedars)
Daily Telegraph, 66
/>awa/«f«j(Tsessebe antelope), 286. 309, 326, 329
Dances, native, 409, 411, 452
Darter {Plotus), 3, 343
Date palms, wild, 2, 7
Dau (Arab sailing vessel), 102, 103, 125, 148, 153
Decency, sense of, among natives, 419
Decle, M. Lionel, 115
Dedza or Deza, Mount, 45
Deep Bay, 94
Depth of water on Chinde bar, 79 ; Kongone
bar, 78
Devil (Natives' idea of a), 449
Devoy, Sergt. -Major, 136, 138, 140
•*Dh61,"426
Dhow (see Dau)
Diamonds, 51
DisOy ground ^orchis, 2ii
Diseases of Natives, 439, 473, et seq.
Dissotisy 7
Districts of B.C.A. Protectorate, 118-9, 154
Divination rod, 45 1
Dog (Native), 433
Domasi, 130
Domestic animals, 429, et seq,
DomirOy S.S., 102, 103-4, II6, 121, 136, 143
Donkeys, 379, 434-5
Dorcatheriumy 285, 310
Doves, II
Drugs, 222, 440
Drums, 460
Dry season, 42
Duala language of West Africa, 61
Ducks, 26, 338, 353, 434 ; tree ducks, 26, 338
Duckweed, Giant {Pistia stratiotes), 17
Duff Macdonald, Rev. Alex., 68, 412, 416, 444
Duncan, Mr. Jonathan, 160, 161
Durban, 164, 179
Durrha grain, 429
Dutch in B.C. A., 147
Duyker antelope, 309, 310, 329
Dyes, 460
Eagle, Bateleur, 345, 352; Warlike, crested, 345,
352; Fish, 27,345, 352
Earthworms, 365
Eljony, 220, 224, 228
Edentates, 321
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, 161
Edwards, Lieut. -Colonel (Lieut., Major), 117, 1 20,
122, et seq.y 126, 132, 133, 134, et seq,, 141, 143,
146, 152, 443, 450
Eggs as food, 437
Egrets, I, 27, 342
Egypt, 480
Eland, 305, 329
Elais palm, 35
Electric Fish (Afalaptentnts),
Elephants, 29, 30, 291-2, 435
Eleusine (Maere, etc., small grain), 426, 429, 437
Elmslie, Dr., 392
Elton, Capt. Fred, 66, 67
Eltz, Herr von, 117
Emba, Aw- (see Aweniba) ; Emba, Ki-, 480, 484
and Vocabularies
Emba, Lu-, 189
English (in B.C. A.), 147
„ perverse inaccuracy of the in spelling
foreign names, 62, 487
English coinage, 149
EquuSy 295-6
ErioseniGy 210
ErythrinOy 209, 227
ErythropklteutUy 224, 441
Ethnology, 392, 409 ; Ethnological characteristics
of the natives of B. C. A. ; initiation cere-
monies, 409, et seq, ; marriage customs, 41 1,
et seq. ; customs relating to birth ; procur-
ing alx>rtion, 417 ; naming of children, 417,
418; change of names, 418; clothing, 418,
419, et seq. ; sense of decency, 419 ; hair-
dressing, 421, et seq.; ornaments, tatooing,
422-3 ; ear, nose, and lip appendages, 423-4 ;
deformation of teeth, 424 ; agriculture, 424,
et seq. ; cultivated plants, 426, et seq. ; domestic
animals, 429. et seq. ; hunting, 435-6 ; fishing,
436 ; food and cooking, 436, et seq. ; fire
making, 438 ; ideas alK)ut death and disease,
439, 443 ; therapeutics, 444, et seq. ; ordeals by
poison and otherwise, 441, 468 ; death and
536
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
burial customs, 433, it seq. ; witchcraft, sorcery,
and cannibalism, 446, et seq, ; ideas of God,
ancestor- worship, belief in an evil spirit, 449,
etseq,; divination, magic, rain wizards, super-
stitions, 450, et seq. ; &bles, 452 ; houses, 453,
et seq,; villages, 456; canoes, 456; weaving,
457 J pottery, string, leather work, 459-60 ;
dyes, metal work, 460, 463 ; musical instru-
ments, 464-7 ; justice, 468, et seq. ; war, 470 ;
property, 471 ; trade, 471 ; diseases, 473, et seq,
Euan-Smith, Sir Charles, 76
Eucalyptus, 29, 175
Euphorbia, 174, 220, 222, 224
Eurafricans, 66
Eurasians, 147
European (First to enter B.C. A.), 58
Europeans, 28, 113, 146, 149
European officials, 24
,, settlers, 146, 149 (relations with natives),
182, et seq.
Executions for murder in B.C. A., 154
Falcons, 352
Faulkner, Mr., 66 ; *s son, 66
Fe/tsy 289
Fen wick, George, 68, 69
,, Mrs., 69
Ferns, 14, 215
Ferns, Tree, 7, 215
Fever, 167, 179, 198, 474-5
Fever, Black-water, 19, et seq., 172-3, 178-9,
et seq. J 1 84-5, 475
Fibre, fibre plants, 223
FicuSf 162, 220, 226, 228
Fig trees, sycomore, 3, 4, 162, 226, 228
Finfoot. 337, 352
Fipa. A, 389, 392 ; Ki-, 484 and Vocabu-
laries
Fire (originated sometimes by lightning), 439 ;
how made by natives, 438 ; customs as to, 439
Fish. 359, 360, 361-2
Fish-eagle, 27, 345
Fishing-owl, 337
Flamingoes, 26, 341-2, 352
Flannel, 185
Fleas, 368 ; Burrowing (see Jigger)
Fletcher, Corporal W., 130
,, Mr. S. Hewitt-, 130
Flies, 350, 37^^ etseq.
Flogging of Natives, 169
Flora of B.C. A., 207, et seq., 233, et seq.
,, mountain, 14
Flowers (beauty of), 7, ii, 172, 177, 208, 21 1
(wild), II, 14, 177, 208
Fly-catchers, 350
Foa, M. (French traveller), 290, 323
Fogs on the rivers, 42
Foliage, spring, 4
Folk-lore, 452
Food, native, items of, 436 ; preparation of, 436
Foot, Consul, 68, 79
Foreign Office (action in regard to Blantyre
atrocities), 68 ; (modus vivendi with Portugal),
81 ; written to by missionaries, 108; 150
Forests, 35, 208, 216
Forsyth- Major, Dr., 52, 297
Fort Anderson, 119, 149, 154
„ Hill, 145
Fort Johnston, 61, 100, 10$, 106, 109, 132, 135,
143, 154, 189
Fort Lister, 119, 120, 133
,, Maguire, 103, 126
„ Mangoche, 134, 146
,, Sharpe, 117
Fotheringham, L. Monteith, 72-3, et seq. , 96, 97,
105
Fowl, domestic, 434, 480
Foxes, 285
Francolin, ii, 347, 351
Free Church Mission (Livingstonia), 66, 70, 135
French, the, 146, 147 V^^^,
„ Mr. (P.M.G., Cape Colony), 126
„ Evangelical Mission, 77
Fruits, 226
Fruit-bats, 288
Fungi, 428
Ful language, 479
Fwambo, 95
Galago. 287-8
Gallinules, 27
Gambia, River, 288
Game, Big, regulations dealing with, 150, 296^
303* 326, et seq.
Games, native children's
Gamitto, Captain, 60
Ganda, Ba-, Bu-, Lu-, 479, 4?o, 483, and
Vocabularies
Gardenia tree, 209
Gardens at Zomba, 150-1
Garnets, 51
Garrod, Professor A, H., 309, 333
Gazelles, 285
Gazette, B.C. A., 154
Cheese, 353, 434
Geese, Egyptian, 26, 3^8, 434
„ Spur-winged, 26, 337, 434
,, Knob-nosed, 338
Genet, 289
Geographical Society, Royal, 63
„ „ „ Scottish, 79
Geology of B.C.A., 47
German Government, 94, 148
,, Steamer, 137, 143
Germans in B.C. A., 147
Germany, 85
Giraffe, 150, 286, 298, 328
Giraud, Monsieur, 39
Gladioli, 212
Glave, Mr., 122, 124
Gnu, 320, 321, 328; Nyasaland Gnu, 318, 321^
et seq.
Goanese, 59
Goat, the African, 432, et seq., 456
Goats, 309
Goat-suckers, 335, 350
God, Bantu Negroes' idea of, 449
Gold, 21, 49, 50, 56, 57, 463
Gomphia trees, 4
Gordon Gumming, Mr. Walter, 136, 138, 141 >
143-4
Gori or Goli Stick (see Slave Sticks)
Granite, 4, 17 {footnote), 48
Grant, Mr. J. A., 90, 118
Graphite, 51 •
Grass, 193, 214, 218
INDEX
537
Graves, native, 444
Gray, Dr., 292, 295 ; Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck, 317
Grebes, 353
Greuna, 224
Ground-nuts, 223, 424, 429
Guano, 162
Guha, Ki-, 480, 483, 484, and Vocabularies
Guinea-fowl, 329, 34^7, 351, 434? Crested ,
329, 346
Gulls, 26, 344, 354
Guns (in outfit), 164, 186
Gunboats (Lake Nyasa), 109, 121, 138, 153
,, (Zambezi-Shire), 98, 130, 146-7
Gunther, Dr., 360-1
GypohieraXy 285, 345-6
Gyps, 285
Hmlialus (Fish Eagle)
Haemoglobinuria, Hoemoglobinuric Fever, 184-5
Hajji Askar, 125
Hamilton, Lieut., 13 1, 132
Hamitic races or tongues, 54, 179
Hare, 290, 452
Harrhy, Mr. E., 126
Harrison, Mr. James, 318, 326
Hartebeest, 320, 321, 329
Hausa language, 479
Hawes, Consul, 74, 76, 119
Hawks, 346, 352
fleat (great heat of portions of B.CA.), 40, 41
Heath, heather, 11
Helichrysumy 212
Hemipode ( Tumix), 337, 347, 351
Hemiptera, 381
Hemp, 223, 427, 429, 461
Henderson, Mr. Henry, 68, 161
Henga, Wa-, 94, 390
,, Ci-, 484 and Vocabularies
Herald, H.M.S., 98
„ Port (see Port Hemld)
Herons, 27, 342, 353 ; Goliath 27, 342
Hetherwick, Rev. Alex., 68, 84, 205, 224, 485
HiHsais, 210, 223, 459
Hides, 182
Hill, Sir Clement, 145
Hill, Fort, 145
Hillier, Mr. H. A., no
Hindustani, 479
Hine, Dr. (Bishop of Likoma), 189
Hippopotamus, 56, 108, 182, 296, 435
Hippotragina, 314, 316, 318
Hoare, Mr. George, 116
Hoes, 425, 464 ; for trade, 182
Holub, Dr. Emil, 77, 233
Honey, 436
Honey-guide {Indicator), 332, 350
Hoopoes, 335, 351 ; Tree Hoopoes, 335, 351
Hornbills, 335, ei seq., 351 ; Ground , 336
Hornets, 375
Horse, 377, 379
Hoste, Captain, 67
Hottentots, 52, 53, 394, 399, 479, 480
Houses European, in B.C. A.), 173
Hunting, native methods of, 435
Hunting Dog {Lycaon)^ 290
Hut-tax, no, III
Huts, native, 453, et stq.
Hyena, 289, 452
Hynde, Mr., 131
Hypericum, 212
Hymenocardias, 220
Hymenoptera, 380
Hyphcene palm (see Palm)
picture of, 29
Hyrax, 291
Forest, word-
Ibis (Hagedash), 27, 342 ; (Sacred), 27, 342
Ichneumon, 290
Ilala, the, 66, 67, 90, 92-3, 121
Impala antelope (see Pallah)
Indecency, natives unconscious of, 200, 408, 419
India, 129; India, the place of man's origin, 53
Indian government, 97, 129
,, immigrants, traders, 147, 177
,, surveyors, 152
„ troops, soldiers, contingent, 98, 100, 129,
152
Indicator (Honey-guide), 332, 350
Induna, S.S., 164
Inge, Mr. H., 106
Inheritance, laws of, 471
Initiation ceremonies,
Insectivora, 288
Insects, 196, 366, et seq,
Inyala ( Tragelapkus angasi), 305-6, 329
Irish in B.C.A., 147
Iron, 51, 460, 463-4
Italians in B.C. A., 147
Itawa, 145
Itch-bean {Mucuna), 221
Ivory, 177, 182, 464, 467, 471
Jackal, 290
}ack*in-the-Beanstalk's Country, 9, 10
amaica Coffee, 161
James Stevenson, Mr., 47
/antes Stevenson, s.s., 38, 78, 82-3
ianson, Charles (see Charles Janson), 69
at Sikhs, n8
Jerboas, 285
esuit missionaries, 57, 189, 190
iigger (burrowing flea), 367-9
ohnson, Capt. C E., 108, 116, 1 1 8, 119, 120,
122, 123, et seq., 126
Johnson, Rev. W. P. , 69, 76
Johnston, Sir Harry H. (see Author)
,, Fort (see Fort Johnston)
Johnston's pallaii, 318, 326
Jose, Amaro, and Baptista, 59
Jumbe of Kotakota, 50, 71, 76, 90, et seq., 107,
121, 122, 124
Justice, administration of, 154 ; 468-9
„ courts of, 114, 154; (native), 468
Kada, 120
Kafue R., 45, 78, 190
Kahn and Co., 18 1
Kalahari Desert, 65
Kalungwizl R., 234
Kambwe Lagoon, 94
Kapemba, Mt., 25
Karonga, 72, 94, 135, 137, 154
Katanga, 50, 65, 114, 190, 460
Katunga, 85, 166
„ Road, 114, 149
Katuri, 146
538
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Kawinga, 103, 115, 129, 131. 175
Kazembe (of Liinda), 59, 468
,, (of Rifii), 102, 124
Keane, Commander J. IL, 98, 105, 106, 108
Keiller, Mr., 103
Kese, Ba-, Ki-, 484 and Vocabularies
Kew Gardens, 151, 211, 233
Khaya tree, 220, 223, 228
Kigelia, 223
Kilimanjaro, Mt., 63, 289, 480; Author's book
on, 154, 318, 330, 365, 453
Kilwa, 56, 100
King, Mr. J. G., 105, 106
Kingfishers, 2, 27, 335, 336, 351
Kiongwe, Ali, 82, 90, 96
Kirk, Sir John, 58, 60, 61, 233
Klipspringer, 309, 310, 31 f, 329
Kniphophia^ 222
Koelle, Rev. Mr., 156
Kongone, mouth of Zambezi, 78, 79
Kopakopa, 137, 138, 140, 141
Kotakota, 71, 76, 90, 124, 154, 177, 189, 214
Kudu, 305, 317, 329
Kuluunda, 124-5
Kumtiramanja, 133-4
Kunene R., 53
KungH fly, the, of Lake Nyasa, 436
Kwakwa R., 78
Kwango R., 59
Labour, native, 168
Lacerda, Dr. F. J. M. de
-e Almeida, 59
Lady Nyasa, the, 68, 78, 84
Lake (word picture of)» I7» 18
Lakes, fluctuations in Lake levels, 38, 47
Land, price of, 154, 166-7; Land under cultiva-
tion, 149
Land Claims, 113
Land Claims, settlement of, 107, 1 12-3
Landolphia^ 223, 226
Langenburg, 94
Languages of B.C. A., 478, et seq.
,, Bantu (see Bantu)
Larks, 329, 348
lASt, Mr. J. T., 233
Laws, Dr. Robert, (^y 70
Leather, 460
I^echwe Antelope, 286, 314, 329
Lemurs, 287
Leopard, 288
Leopard Bay (Rifii), 124
Lepidoptera^ 381, et seq.
Lianas, 223
Liberian Coffee, 16 1
Likoma, Bishop of, 70, 189; Id. of, 70, 90, 189
Likubula R., 177
Lilies, carmine, 4, 177
,, crimson,
, , ( Gloriosa super ba) ,221
„ tree, 1 1
„ water, 3
Lily-trotter (Parra africana\ 27, 343
Limestone, 48
Lion, 288
Lip ornaments, 423, 424
Lissochilus ground orchids, 210, 312
Lister, Sir Villiers, 119; , Fort (se^ Fort
Lister)
Livingstone, Dr., 24, 27, 37, 38, 60, 61, 63;
(third expedition), 64; (death of), 65 ; 71, 145,
156, 157, 446
Livingstonia, 70
Livingstonia Free Church Mission, 66, 70, 189
Liwonde, 115, 116, 117
Liwonde, Fort, 117, 143, 149, 154
Lizards, 356, 361
Lobelia, 9
Locks, native made, 459
Locustids, 373
Locusts, 369, 370, 373
Lofu R., 27
Lolo, A-, 119, 134, 39r, 421, 424
Lomwe, A-; I-, 391, 485 and Vocabularies
Lone hocar pits y 208
London Missionary Society (sec Missionary
Societies)
Lovebird of the Upper Shire, 33 j
Lower Shire District, 98, 1 10, 154, 463
Lualaba R., 64, 156, 303
Luangwa R., 40, 45, 46, 61, 62, 64, 72, 77, 82,
89, 156, 158. 286, 298, 320, 390-1
Luapula (District), 119 ; River, 47, 60, 61, 64, 65,
212, 213. 389
Lubiaa, 71
Luemba (vide Emlm, Lu-)
Lugard, Major, 74
Lujenda R., 47, 58, 391
Lunda, 59; Lunda, A-, 76, 212, 389, 419, 468
Lungu, A- ; Ki-, 389, 417, 464-5, 4S4, and
Vocabularies
Lusewa, 64
Lu-wemba [vide Lu-emba)
LycaoHy 286, 290
Lydekker, Mr., 303
Lynx, Caracal ; lynxes, 285, 289
Macdonald, Rev. Duff", 68, 412, 416, 444
Machilla (hammock or chair), 91, 149
Mackenzie, Bishop, 6 1, 69
Mackinnon, Sir Wm., 67
Maclear, Cape, 70, 134
Madness in natives, 477
Madagascar, 156, 179, 184, 364
Magistrates, 114
Maguire, Captain C. M., 98, 99, et seq.^ (death of)
103-4; 105, 109, 121, 125
Maguire, Fort, 103, 126
Magwangwara, 70. 39 1 -2, 455
Maize, 182, 426, 429, 436, et seq,
Makandanji, loo, loi
Makanga country, 290
Makanjira, 76, 102. 103-4, 107, 121, 124-5, i^»
135»443» 446,447, 471
Makanjira Fund, 97, 121
Makololo, the, 66, 69, 77, 83, 84, 156, 391-2
,, Livingstone's, 65, 66, 69
Makua, the, 391
Makua (porters, soldiers), 83, 91, 116, 117, 118,
123, 331
Makua language, 134, 485 and Vocabularies
Malachite, 51
Malay archii>elago, 211
'Malemia, chief^ 129, 131
Malindi, 55, 57, 58
Mallows, 7
Malo Island, 69
INDEX
539
Malombe, Lake, 46, 60
Mambwe, A-, 72, 95, 389, 4i7
,, Ki-, 484 and Vocabularies
Mandala, dT^ 176
Mangoche Mt., 134, 146, 189
Manioc (see Cassava)
Manis, 321, 371
Manning, Captain W. H., 118, 121, 131, 146
Mantis, 196, 371-3
Manyema language, 484 and Vocabularies
Mafianja, A- and Ci-, 66, 176, 390, 440, 485 and
Vocabularies
Maflanja Hills, 233
Maples, Bishop Chauncy, 70, 94
Marabu storks, 27
Maravi, 57, 62
Marimba, District of, 154, 177
Marriage Customs (see Customs)
Marsh, Elephant, 47, 84, 303. 320, 328
,, Morambala,
„ i>apyrus, 17
,, Pinda,
Marshes, 47
Mashonaland, ruined cities of, 53
Maskat, 62, 155
Massage amongst the natives, 440
MataWe, 62, 146
Matipwiri, 107, 119, 120, 130, 132, 133-4, 189,
451
Matope, 107, 117
Mauni Hill, 134
Ma2siro dialect, 484 and Vocabularies
Mazbi Sikhs, 98, 1 18
Mbewe (Makololo town), 84
Mbo, Ci-, 484 and Vocabularies (see Ambo)
McClounie, Mr. J., 233
McDonald, Mr. H. C, 318, 326
McEwan, Mr., 104, 124, 144, 154
McMaster, Mr. J. E., 126
Medicines, native, 440, el seq,
Meller, Mr. J. C, 233
Menyharth. Rev. L., 234
Merere of Usango, 72
Mfiti, 446-7
Michesi Mt., 119, 295
Military Forces of Protectorate, 118
Milk, 203, 432, 437
Millet, 426, 429» 437
Millipede, 364-5
Mimosas, 216
Miners, gold, word-picture of, 19, et seq.
Misale, 49. 57
Mission doctor, 19, 21 ; pupils, 28, 197, 198,
202
,, Station, word-picture of, 193, et seq.
,, Work, disappointments of, 203, 204 ;
results of, 204 ; successes of, 204-5 » industrial
teaching of, 205
Missions, Christian, 189, et seq.
Missionaries, 108, 130, 190, et seq. (too great
asceticism oO, 201
Missionary hospitality, 201
Missionary Societies : Church of Scotland, 66, 67,
130, 160, 189 ; Dutch Reformed Church, 189 ;
Free Church of Scotland (Livingstonia), 66^ 70,
'35» 189; French Catholic (Algerian), 189 ;
French Evangelical, 77, 190; Jesuit Mission,
189; London, 70, 71, 95, 189; Nyasa Baptist
Industrial, 189 ; Universities*, 61, 63, 69, 70,
77, 189, 198 ; {vide Universities), 201 ;
Zambezi Industrial, 189
Missionary's wife. A, 195, et seq.
Misuko trees, 29, 220, 222, 224, 226
Mkanda, 120
Mlanje cedar, 12, et seq.^ i$o, 232
,, district, 154, 189
,, mountain, 12, et seq., 17, 39, 42-3, 48, 5'»
107. 119. 150,295, 332
Mlauri, 69, 84, et seq.
Mlozi, 72, 74, 135, 137, et seq. ; (wounded), 141 ;
(captured), 142 ; (tried and exeaited), 143, 145
Mozambique, 55, 58, 82, 88 ; (Governor of), 88,
118, 15b, 285, 391, 485
Mocha coffee, 161
Moir, Lake, 46
„ Mr. Fred M., 67, 74, 75, i6i
„ Mr. John, 67, 69, 74. 85, 86, 161
Moma R., 156
Money introduced into B.C. A., 149
Monitor lizard, 356, 460, 464
Monkey, Co/obus, 2S87
Monkeys, 287
Monkey Bay, 124
Monomotapa, 56
Monteiro and Gamitto, 60
** Monlisi," 72
Molluscs, 363
Moore, Mr. J., 363
Morambala Mt., 82, 165
„ marsh, 47, 165
Mosques, 56
Mosquito, H. M.S., 98, 117
Mosquitoes, 375-6
Mosses, 281
Mother-in-law, superstitions concerning, 415
Moths. 368, 384
Mountain (birds), II ; (climbing a ), 4,
(flora), 10, II. 14; (plateaux), 10
Mountains of B.C. A., altitudes of, 45; aspects of,
9; geology of, 48; of Portuguese East
Africa, 134;
M[>ata (Mlozi's town), 74
Mpatamanga (see Botanical Appendix, Chapter
viii.)
'Sl^Xssi^ footnote y p. 86
Mpemba, 144
Mpezeni, 49, 158, 468
Mpimbi, 116
Mponda, 65, 83, 90, 96, 100, et seq., 105, et seq.,
107, 134-5. 446
Msalemu, 137, et seq,
Msamara, 90, 105, 441
Msiri, 89
'*Muanza" (name given to Lower Congo and
Cameroon s), 61
*'Muavi" (poison ordeal), 224, 441, 442, 448,
450, 469
Mucuna bean, 321, 428
Mudi R., 176
Muhammadan Sepoys, Indians, 64, 104, 105, 117
„ Yao, 6j, 76
Murchison Falls, 38, 65
I Music, native, 468
I Musical instruments, 464, et seq.
Mwasi Kazungu, 144
I Mwera (south-east wind), 17
540
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Mwcru (District), 1 19, 306, 312, 321 ; (Lake), 39,
46, 48, 59, 60, 61 (discovery of ), 64 ; 148, 234, 290
Mweru Salt Swamp, 46, 51
Namasi R., 171
Names, absurd — given to Mission children, 203
Nandinia, 285, 290
Natives of B.C. A., 182, 389, ei seq, ; see Negroes,
Central African (Bantu)
Native contingent, 134, 152
Naval service, B.C. A., 153
Ndirande Mt., 107
Negri tic group, 54
Negro culture retrograde, 55, 183, 472
Negroes, future of the, 182, 472 ; proper attitude
towards, 183-4; West Indian, 203; tendency
of to relapse into savagery, 202, 203 ;
distribution of true , 3000 years ago, 54 ;
uniformity of type of, 392-3 ; carelessness and
indifference in cultivating plants and domestica-
ting animals, 429
Negroes, Central African (Bantu), physical des-
cription of, 392, it seq, ; uniformity of type, 393 ;
colour of sicin, 393-4 ; albinism, 394 ; exuda-
tions of skin, 395 ; eyes, 396 ; physiognomy,
396 ; lips, 396 ; chin, 397 ; hair on face, 397,
on body, 398, on head, 398 ; ear, 398 ; breasts,
398-9 ; sexual organs, 399 ; buttocks, 399 ;
hands and feet, 399; height and other body
measurements, 400, 403 ; voice, 403 ; power of
withstanding cold and heat, 403 ; strength,
speed, and endurance, 404 ; muscular develop-
ment, 404-$ ; physical feats, 405-6 ; postures
and movements of body, 406 ; methods of
carrying loads, 406-7 ; salutations, 407 ; ex-
pression of face and disposition, 407 ; intelli-
gence, 408; relative "uxoriousness," indecent
dances. 4C^ ; lack of chastity, 408, 409 ;
Ethnology of, 409, et seq. ; see Ethnology,
and also Customs, Religion, Domestic animals.
Cultivated plants
Negroes, past and future of the, 472
,, diseases of the, 473, et seq.
Negroid Races, 393
New York Herald, 65
Npindo, Ci-, 485 and Vocabularies
Nicholson, Admiral, 108, 109
NicoU, John L., 72, 82, 90, 95, 97, 109
Nigerian Sudan, Niger, 453, 469
Nightingale, 332
Nile, 65, 182, 479
Nilgai, 309
Nilotic negroes, 479
Nkata Bay, 154
Nkonde (country), 72, 390
,, (languages), 390, 480
Awa-, Wa- (people), 72, 73, 139, 141,
I43» 390, 399, 4I5» 417-9. 423-4, 430-1, 443-4,
445, 451, 452, 454
North Nyasa, 94, 154, 471
Nsese R. (Botanical Appendix, pp. 233-283)
Nunes, Vice-Consul, 68
Nutt, Mr., 234
Ntixia, 228
Nyamwezi, Ki- (language : also vide Sukuma, Ki-),
Vocabularies
Wa-, 392, 404
„ Wa- (country), 67, 157
Nyanja (the true name of Laka Nyasa), 61
„ A-, 62, 99, 119, 145, 390, 417, 419, 422,
424, 443, 444, 446-7, 471
Nyanja, Ci-, 484-5 and Vocabularies
Nyanza, 61 (T^/V<f Victoria Nyanza, Albert Nyanza),
Nyasa, I-ake, 17, 18, 38, 45, 48, 52, 60; (first
discovery of), 61, 71, 94, 102, 148. 153, 360
Nyasa steamers, gunboats, 17, 109, 138, 153
Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau, 72, 95, 135, 145, 149,
189, 234
Nyasaland, 55, 62, 65, 68, 71, 80, 88, 286, 288,
317,318
Nyaserera, 119, 120
Nyih*a (Nyixa or Nyika), language. Vocabularies
Nyika Plateau, 45
„ A-, 390
Oceana Co., 181
Octodont rodent, an, 291
Odete, 146
Oil palm, 35, 212, 222, 428
Oil seeds, 182, 222, 428
"Old man's beard" lichen, 10
Oldfield Thomas, Mr., 288, 311, 322, 324, 325
'Oman, 62, 71
O'Neill, Consul, 74
OpisthocomtiSy 333
Orange, 427, 429
Orchids, 210, 211
,, Ground, 7, 210, 211
Orchilla lichen, 10
Ordeal for witchcraft, etc., 441, 468
Oribi, 311
Orioles, 330-1, 348
Orthography, 486
Orthoptera, 371, 380
Orycteropus, 285, 321, 371
Oryx, 285, 314. 317
Osmunda fern, 220
Osprey, 346, 352
Ostrich, 285, 286, 329, 347
Oswell, Mr. (the explorer), 60
Otogale, 287
Otter, 290
Ourebia, 311,329
Outfit needed for B.C. A., 164 and Appendix II.,
chap, vi., pp. 186-188
Owls, 337, 351 ; the eagle owl, 337, 447
Ox, oxen, 309 (see Cattle)
Ox-pecker {Buphaga\ 330
Pallah or Impala, 318, 329 ; Johnston's 318,
326
Palm wine, 437
Palms, Borassus, I, 213, 214, 231, 428
„ Cocoanut, 23, 213, 217
„ Wild Date, 2, 174, 213, 217, 230
„ Hyphiene, 29, 213, 214, 231, 292, 459
,» Oil, 35, 213, 428-9; Raphia, 174, 212
Papaw tree, 427, 429
Papio pruiftosuSy 286-7
Papyrus, 17, 26, 219
„ Marsh, 17
Paradoxure (Nandinia)^ 290
Parinarium trees, 4, 220, 224, 226, 230, 428, 456
Parkia, 231
Parra, 343
Parrots, 333-4, 351 ; (grey parrot, 334)
INDEX
541
Pay of native labourers, 168
PeUU ring, 423-4
Pelicans, 343, 353
Pepfjers, red and green, 428-9
Pereiras, the, 59
Perissodactyla, 291
Persia, Persians, 155-6, 159
Petre, Sir George, 8i
Petrodromus^ 288
Pettitt, Messrs. : Mr. Harry 84, 292
Phacochcerusy 296, 298, 329
Phillips, Lieutenant-Commander, 138
Phragmites reed, 217, 291
Physiological description of the Negro (see
Negro)
Pigs, 296, 429 (see Bush pig and Wart hog)
Pigeons, 344, 354, 434
Pinda Marsh, 38
Pineapple, 429
Pioneer, H.M.S., 124
Pipes, 459, 461
Pipits, 331
Pisiia straiioifSf 17
Planters, European, 160, 163, ei srq.
Plantation (clearing of), 169
Plovers, 27, 343, 354
Pocock, Mr. R. I., 365
PcecUogaUy 290
Paocfphaius^ 334
Poles (Austrian), 146-7
Polyboroides typicus (naked-cheeked Hawk), 346,
352
Polyglotia Afncana^ 156
Poole, Dr. Wordsworth, 136, 138, 143, 179
Population of B.C. A. Protectorate, 146-7
Porcupine, 291
Porphyrio, 337
Porridge, native.
Port Herald, 117, 125, 154, 165
Portal, Sir Gerald, 91, 118
Portuguese, 52, 56, 59, 63, 82, 88, 147, 155, 157,
201 (hospitality of), 201 ; 391, 426, 429, 434
Portuguese Foreign Office, 81
„ Government, 88
, , half-castes (" Black Portuguese "), 59,
69, 156. 391
Portuguese East Africa; Zambezia, 59, 78, 81,
134, 156-7, 292, 318, 377
Postage stamps of B.C. A., 129, 149
Postal service of B.C. A., 148, 171
Potatoes, 427, 429; Sweet , 427, 429
PotamocharuSy 296-7, 329
Pottery, native, 459
,, ,, old, dug up near Lake Nyasa, 55,
459
Poultry, 182
Pozo, Ci-, 485 and Vocabularies
Pratincoles, 27
Prefixes, Bantu (see Bantu)
Printing at Zomba, 205
Procavia^ 291
Protea, II, 223, 428
Protehs, 285
Protectorate (proclamation of British), 86, 96, 147
Protoptenis^ 359
Pscitdo^Qps, 285
PterocarpHSy 209, 220
PUrocles, 344, 352
Puff-adder, 359
Puku antelope, 286, 312-3; Senga Puku, 312,
329
Pumpkins, 329, 426, 427
Python, 359
Qua^, 285, 295-6
Quail, 351
Quartz, 48, 50, 51
Quebraba^o rapids, 60
Queen, H.M. the, 25, 91
** Queen's Regulations," 154
Quelimane, 55, 60, 78, 82, 148, 156, 391, 485
Rails, 27, 337
Rain, 42 ; ** rain-makers," 451-2
Rainfall of B.C. A., 36, 42
Rainy season, 39, 42, 170
Ramakukane, 69
Rankin, Mr. D., 69, 79, 81
Raphia (see Palms)
Raphicerus sharpH^ 309, 310, 329
Raptorial birds, 337, 344, 352
Rat, 291
Ratel, 290
Raven, great billed, ii, 330; black and
white, 330
Reed buck, 311, 312, 329
Reeds, 3, 209, 217
Religion of the Natives, 449, et stq,
Rendall, Dr. Percy, 287, 288, 322-4
Revenue of B. C. A. , 1 50
Rhinoceros, 292, 328
,, horns, 182, 292
Rhoades, Lieutenant-Commander, 138, 360
Rhodes, Right Hon. Cecil J., 81, 117, 121, 129
„ Herbert, 67
Rhynchocyon, 286, 288
Rice, 426, 429, 437
Rifu, 124
River, word-picture of a, I
Roads made oy Administration, 1 14, 149
Road-making, 114, 153
Roan Antelope, 317-8,
329
Robberies, Highway, 107, 108, 1.^2, 149
Robertson, Commr. Hope, 109, 122
Rodents of B.C. A., 290
RoUers, 336, 351
Roman Catholic Missionaries, 200, 201
Roscher, Dr. Ernest, 64
Ross, Mr. A. Carnegie, 97
Rubber, 160, 182, 226, 464
Rufiji R., 285, 286, 329
Rugaruga, 158, 392
Rukuru, R., 137, et seq.
Rukwa, I^ke, 45, 95, 390, 484
Ruo District, 154
„ River, 58, 83, 87, 292, 390; Falls of, 40;
Upper Ruo, 43
Ruvuma R., 58, 62, 324, 391, 480, 485
S , Mr., 85
Salxtans, 54
Sable Antelope, 4, 286, 317, 329
Sacred Ibis, 27, 342
Sahara desert, 2S0
Saidi Mwazungu, 102, 104, 144, 154
Salisbury, Lord, 80, 88, 96, 109
Salt, 51,438.471
542
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Salt, manufocture of, 51 I
Sand-grous^ 329. 344 I
Sandpipers, 27 I
Sandstone, 48 1
Sansevieria^ 182, 223 |
Sarcidicrnis (knob-nosed duck or goose), 26, 338 1
Scenery of B.C. A., 35
Schizorhis, 333
Sclater, Capt. B. L., 97, 106, 107, 108, 112, 114, |
117
Sclater, Mr. P. L., 292
Scopus umbrdtay 342
Scorpions, 364-5
Scotch, the, 147
,, Missions, 66
„ Settlers, 147
Scotland, Church of, Mission, 66, 67, 130
Scott, Rev. D. C. Ruffele, 68, 85, 415-6, 440,
447, 453» 459, 468, 486
Scott, Mr. L., 233
Scott- Elliot, Mr., 233
Seamen, excellence of native, 457
Seasons, Rainy and Dry, 39, 40, 211
Secretary to the Administration, 152
Secretary Vulture, 285, 329, 337, 346
Selous, Mr., 77, 292
Semitic (races), 54
„ (tongues), 54
Sena, 83 ; Ci-, 484-5 and Vocabularies
Senegambia, 286, 329, 346
Senga country, 72, 141, 156
,, pitku (antelope), 329
Senga, Ba-, A-, Ci-, 390, 484 and Vocabularies
Serpa Pinto, Colonel, 53, 81, et seq., 86, 88, 233
Serpents (see Snakes)
Serpentarius (see Secretary \'ulture)
Serval cat, 288, 289
Sesamum plant and oil, 223, 428-9
Settlers, European, 113
Seven-pounder gim, 102, 105, 106, 122, 134
Sharpe, Mr. Alfred, 45, 74, 89, 97, 107-8, 112,
116, 119, 122, 124, 126, 130, 132, 146, 212,
291, 296, 310, 326, 450
Sharrer, Mr., 77, 147, 161
Sharrer's Traffic Co., 176, j8i
Sheep, 182
Shells, 363
Shikulombwe, Ba-, 77
Shire Highlands, 27, 45, 48, 61, 62, 66, 77, 88,
130, 170. 234
Shire Highlands Shooting Club, 170
,, Province,
„ River, 3, 38, 58, 60, 149, 165, 390 {vuie
West Shire, Lower Shire, Upper Shire)
Shrews, 286, 288 ; Elephant, 288
Shrikes, 349
Siege of ^llozi*s stockade, 1 38- 1 40
Sikhs, the, 28, 30, 98, 102, 103-4, 105, 117, 118,
120, 123, 124, 129, 130, 141, 152
Silva Porto, 60
Silver, 57
Simpson, Mr. A. C, 66, 84
Situtunga (Speke*s Tragelaph), 286, 305, ei seq.^
329
Slavery, 149, 155. 156
Slave States in W. India, 155
Slaves, 31, 155
Slave-sticks, 31, 158
Slave-trade 149 ; (worst horrors of), 155-6
Slave-traders, 115, 119; (of ancient times), 155*:
(American), 156
Slugs, 363
Smilax yam, 221
Smith, Lieut. G. de Henries, 136, et seq.^ 141
„ Mr. Edgar A., 363
Smythies, Bishop, 70,^
Snails, 363
Snakes. 356, 359, 362
Snipe, 343, 354
Soapstone, 48
Somaliland, Somalis, 54, 56, 62, 63, 285, 295,
298
Songwe River, 94, 303
Sorcery, 441-2, 446, et seq.
Sorghum. 426, 429, 436
South Africa Chartered Company (see British,
etc.)
South Africans in B.C. A., 147
South Nyasa District, 109, 149
Spathodea, 210
Speke, Captain, 63
Speke's Tragelaph (see Tragelaphus spekei)
Spiders, 364-5
Sport (big game shooting), 1 71
Spring foliage, tints of, 4
Stairs, Captain, 89, 114, 115
Stanley, Mr. H. M., 65, 66
Starke, Mr., 131
Starlings (Glossy), 3.;o, 348
Steamers (on Lake Nyasa), ^^ 70, 109
,, (on Rivers Shire and Zambezi), 98, 109,
147
,, (on Lake Tanganyika), 70, 75
Steere, Bishop, 70
Stevenson, Mr. (Gilbert, 105, 116
,, Mr. James, 71
,, ,, the (Steamer) {sec/ofnes
S terpen son)
Stevenson Road, 71
Stewart, Mr. James, 67
Stewart, Captain F. T., 136, 144, 146
Stick-insects, 373
Stilt-plover, 343, 354
Siipa grass, 213
Stockade, Mlozi's, 1 37, et seq.
Storks, black {Anastomus), 27, 342
„ saddle-billed [Mycteria), 17, 342
,, marabu, 27, 342
„ (generaUy), 353
Stork, H.M.S., 82
Strawberries at Zomba, 174
String, native, 459
Strophanthus drug, 182, 224-5, 440-1
Strychnos, 226, 428
Sudan, 329, 346, 379, 453
Sudanese, 117
Sugar, sugar-cane, 182, 427, 429
Sultan, Arab, 23, 24, 31
,, of ZanzilMur, 76, 90, 118
Sunbirds, 347
^us genus, 297
Swahili (people), 64, 91, 104
„ (language), 478, 479, 486
Swallows; 332, 350
Swann, Mr. A. J., 95, 96, 97, ^44
Swifts, 334, 350
INDEX
543
Swine (vide Sus, Wart hog, Bush pig, Phacachanis,
and Poiamochamis)^
Syndactyia, the, 335
Taberttipmoniana, 226
Tamarind, 226
Tambala, 144, 154
Tanganyika, Lake, 25, 39, 45, 48. 52, 60;
(discovery of) 63; (South' end oO 64, 70, 71,
95i 96; (North end of) 96 ; 148, 189, 234, 285,
360, 484
Tanganyika, Lake, Birds on, 26, 27, 342
,, ,, Marine Fauna of, 363
,, District, 119
Tasmanians, 396
Tax, Gun, iii
Tax, Hut, III, 150
Taxation, ill, 150
Taylor, Mr. G. A., 145, 318
Tea, 160
Teak, African, 223
Teal, 26
Temperance in Tropical Africa, 180- 1
Temperature, high, 40, 41 ; low, 41
Tephrosia, 210, 429
Temiites, 174, 370, 371
Terns, 26, 344
Tete, 57, 60, 62, 484
Therapeutics, native, 477 (see Ethnology)
Thomson, Mr. Joseph, 46, 70, 90, 118, 233
Thrushes, 331-2, 349
Ticks, 364-5
Tiger-cat {Felts serval), 288, 289
Timber, 182
Times newspaper, 79, 81
Tiputipu (Tippoo-tib), 76
Tits, Titmice, 348
Tobacco, 160, 182, 427, 429
Tomatoes, 427, 429
Tonga, Ci-, 484 and Vocabularies
„ Wa-, A-, 390, 486 ; Ba- (Batoka), 390, 391 ;
see Atonga
Tortoises, 356, 361
Trachylohiumy 220, 226
Trade (among natives), 177, 182
,, goods, 182
Traders, 177, 181
Tragelaphs, the ( Tragilapkifuc)^ 303, 305-6
Tragelaphus angasij 305, et seq.^ 329-
, , scriptus, 305, et seq. , 329
„ spekei, 286, 305, etseq., 314, 329
Traps. 435
Treaties with native chiefs, 81, 86, 94, 113
Treatment of Black- water fever, 180
Trees, Forest, 216
,, Useful trees of B.C. A., 224, et seq.
Tree-ducks, 26
Tree-ferns, 7
Tree-lilies, ii, 211
Trogon, 335, 350
TroUope, Major Frank, 136, et seq., 14 1, 318
Tropical vegetation, 2
Tsessebe antelope, 286, 309, 326, 329
Tsetse Fly, 56, 64, 367, 377, et seq,
Tumbuka. Ba-, 390, 484
Tundu Hill, 133
Turaco, 7, 8, 333, 350
Tusks, Elephants', 291-2
Uapaca kirkiana, 220, 224, 226, 227, 428
Uganda, 295 ^
Ujiji, 64, 71
Umbre, Tufted {Scopus),
Universities Mission to Central Africa, 6r, 63, 69,
70, n, 159, 189, 198, 201
Unyanyembe, 64
Unyamwezi (see Nyamwezi, Wu-)
Upper Congo, 65
Upper Shire, 115, 149; (District), 154
Upper Zambezi, 77, 234, 285
Urquhart, Mr., 103-4
Usnea lichen, 10
Varanus lizards, 356, 460, 464
Vasco da Gama, 55
Vegetable earth, 48
Vegetation, tropical, 2, 35 ; (graceful), 213 ;
(malicious), 220
Vellozia splentlens^ 211
Vespentgo, 288
Vicenti, 78
Victoria Nyanza, 63
Victoria Falls, 233
Village, native, 456
,, word-picture of, 19, 20
Villiers, Lieutenant, R.N., 124
Vitexy 223, 224, 227
Vitisy 221
Vocabularies of B.C. A. languages, 488, et seq.
Volcanoes, 48
Volcanic lavas, 48
,, tuffs, 48
Vultures, 285, 329, 344, 352
„ relative scarcity of in B.C. A., 344
Wages, native, 168
Wagtails, 331, 348
Waller, Rev. Horace, 48
Wankonde (see Nkonde, Wa-),
War (word-picture of a), 30, 31 ; native methods
of, 469, 470, 471
Warblers, African, 332, 349
Wart Hog, 296, 298, 329
Wasps, 374 ; Mason wasps, 374
Water lilies, 3
Waterbuck {Cobus), 312, 313, 329
Watson, Dr. A. B., 105, 106, 122
Wax, 182
Waxbills, 33'» 348
Weapons, native, 462
Weasels, 290
Weatherley, Mr. Poulett, 39, 46, 326-
Weaver-birds, 331, 348
Weaving, 457
Wells, Mr. H. G., 366
Welsh in B.C. A., 147
Wemba, A- (see Awemba, Emba)
West Africa, 35, 42, 55
,, Indians, Indies, 203
,, Nyasa District, 49, 112, 154
„ Shire District, 49, 51, 154
Wheat, 182, 426
Wheeler, Mr. Wm., 107
Whicker, Mr. F. J., 117
Whisky, 19, 21, 168, 1 71
While men in a native village (word-picture of), 19
White-ants (see Termites)
544
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
Whyte, Mr. Alexander, 97, 119, 150- 1, 212,
330
Widdrin^oma Whytei^ 12, 13, 150- 1, 224
Widow-birds, 331
Wildebeest (see Gnu)
Winds, prevailing, 42
Win ton, Mr. W. E. de, 295, 297, 298, 319
IVissfttann, s.s. Hermann von^ 137
Wissmann, Major von, 1 10
Witch, witchcraft, wizards, 441, 446, et seq.^ 451
Women, European, in Africa, 177, 199, 200
,, as missionaries, 198^ et seq.
,, native, 20, 470 (succession through the),
471
Woodcock, 343, 354
Woodpeckers, 332, 350
Worms, 365, 473. 47^
Xantkarpyia, 288
Xanthism, 394, 396
Yao, Wa-, 61, 62, 77, 99, 119, 131, 157, 391, 394,
397, 404, 416. 444-5. 470, 471
Yao, Muhammadan, 61, 447
„ land, 62
„ language, 485-6
Young, Lieut., 65
Yule, Mr., 145, 289,415-6
Zambezi, 55, 56, 59, 60, 63 (Chinde, mouth of),
63 (Delta oO, 63, 65, 78, 79, 89 (slave trade of),
156, 165, 182, 189, 190, 234, 285, 329, 390-1
Zambezia, 63, 183, 303
„ Portuguese, 59, 78, 8', 156, 292
Zambezi expedition (Livingstone's), 60, 63
(Upper), 77,.234, 285, 286
Industrial Mis
i Mission (vide Missionaries)
Zanzibar, 62, 67, 71, 78, 91, 148, 478
,, Sultan of, 76, 90-1, 118
,, Arabs, 118
Zanzibaris, lOO, 117, 1 18
Zarafi, loi, 105, 106, 130, 132, 134, 146, 451
Zebra, 285, 292, et seq.^ 329
Zebras, classi^cation of, 292, 295-6
Zoa, 114
Zomba, 39, 41, 130. 149, 154, 370
,, Mountain, 45, 330
,, Residency, 130
Zoography of Africa (distribution of animals),
285-6
Zoological Society, Gardens, 288. 298, 310, 318, 336
Zulu (language), 480, 486 and Vocabularies
„ (people), 62, 156
,, (soldiers), 83
Zululand, 62, 156
Zumbo, 57, 58, 391
Zygodactyly development of fruit-pigeon, 344
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